KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip (AP) — One Israeli airstrike struck one of the main hospitals still operating in the Gaza Strip on Thursday, killing six people, including a surgeon and a 13-year-old boy, the Gaza Health Ministry said.
The Israeli military said the attack on Nasser Hospital in southern Gaza targeted a Hamas commander and other militants, without providing evidence. The identified commander was not among the dead.
The strike hit the surgical wing of the hospital, the ministry and witnesses said. Images show several wards and operating rooms heavily damaged or destroyed, with debris strewn across hospital beds and equipment and rebar hanging from holes in the ceiling. At least 28 people were injured.
The dead included Dr. Rizk Abu Shaira, a general surgeon, and at least two patients, including one aged 13, according to the ministry.
Gaza’s health infrastructure has been decimated by a war that lasted for years. The Israeli army has attacked or besieged hospitals across the territory, accusing Hamas of using them as command centers and to hide fighters. Israel has also destroyed medical equipment and supplies and killed or arrested hundreds of health workers.
Work halted in several areas of the hospital after strike
British surgeon Goher Rahbour, a volunteer at Nasser Hospital, said the strike occurred shortly after midnight and shook the entire building.
“It was extremely smoky,” said Rahbour, who was on the fourth floor of the surgery department at the time. The recovery area on the same floor was reduced to rubble, he said.
He said he was operating alongside Abu Shaira just hours before the attack. “A lovely, happy, smiling guy,” Rahbour said.
Ahmed al-Farra, a doctor and general director of the hospital, said no warning was received before the attack. He said surgeries had been suspended, as had work in the radiology department and laboratory, due to damage to the building where medical staff were already struggling to provide care due to shortages of supplies and “miserable” conditions.
He said other nearby medical facilities were not equipped to perform the type of “specialized surgeries” that Nasser Hospital offered, leaving patients who needed them “facing an unknown fate.”
He said an attack on a hospital should draw a forceful response from the international community. “Imagine if this event happened in any other country in the world. Would the world remain silent about it? No, by God, no.”
“No one is safe here,” he added, switching from Arabic to English.
Israel has already targeted Nasser
A report from the United Nations, the World Bank and the European Union indicated in April that more than 1,800 medical facilities in Gaza had been partially or completely destroyed since the start of the conflict.
Israeli forces have already attacked the Nasser hospital. In 2025, the army killed 22 people when he hit a gathering point for local journalists at the complex. Among the dead were five journalists, including Mariam Daggawho worked for the Associated Press.
In armed conflicts, hospitals and their personnel are protected by international humanitarian law. A hospital can, however, lose its protected status if it is used for military purposes.
Hamas security officers were seen in hospitals during the war, controlling access to certain areas. In a statement released Thursday, the army said Hamas had “established a presence within the hospital complex” and that the commander had made it “a headquarters.”
The war in Gaza began on October 7, 2023, when Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel, killing around 1,200 people and taking 251 others hostage. Since then, Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed more than 74,600 people, according to Gaza’s health ministry. The ministry, part of the Hamas-led government, keeps detailed records and its figures are generally considered reliable by UN agencies and independent experts. The toll does not distinguish between civilians and militants, but says women and children account for about half of the deaths.
Israel has continued to strike Gaza despite a US-backed ceasefire and controls at least 60% of the enclave. Since the truce came into force in October 2025, Israeli strikes and shootings have killed 1,622 people, according to health authorities. Five Israeli soldiers were also killed during this period.
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Ezzidin reported from Cairo.
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