Watermelon Pictures, which distributed the film, said the film had been “devastated” by the surgeon’s murder and condemned the attack.
“Dr. Rizq was in the hospital throughout the war. He was saving the wounded, the patients. He did not abandon his duties even for a single day,” Dr. Mohammed Zaqout, director general of the Ministry of Health in Gaza, could be seen telling a crowd of mourners, surrounding a body covered in a shroud, in a video captured for NBC News on Thursday.
“He’s one of the best doctors,” Zaqout said. “He always took pride in saving lives.”
A 13-year-old boy was also among those killed in the strike, the Associated Press reported.
The Israeli military and Israel Security Agency said they struck a senior Hamas official, as well as other militants, who they said had “advanced” attacks from the hospital in the southern Gaza Strip overnight. In a later statement, they identified the official as Muhammad Abu Ismail, who they said was the commander of Hamas’s Khan Younis Brigade and was also responsible for holding hostages in Gaza.
The IDF and ISA said Hamas had “established a presence in the hospital complex and used it as a command center,” stockpiled weapons, and conducted interrogations and torture from inside the medical complex. They shared photos of weapons allegedly found at the compound.
A woman, Tahani Ibrahim Abu Anza, said her brother, Khaled Abu Anza, was killed in the attack.
A number of media outlets, including Israeli news outlet Ynet, reported that a commander of Hamas’s Khan Younis Brigade of the same name was killed in the attack. Asked to confirm this and to know if it was directly targeted, the Israeli army replied that it would return to the issue.
Tahani Ibrahim Abu Anza did not directly identify his brother, 53, as a Hamas member, but said she thought he was being targeted. He had been in the hospital for physical therapy after undergoing surgery, she said.
“He did not come to the hospital to engage in combat or resistance. He came for medical treatment,” she explained.
Hamas condemned allegations that it was using the hospital for military operations, calling them “lies of the criminal enemy” and called the attack a “war crime.”
The Israeli military and ISA said measures had been taken to “mitigate harm to civilians, including through the use of precision munitions and aerial surveillance.” The Israeli military said it was investigating reports that medical staff, including Abu Shaira, and patients had been killed.
The hospitals enjoy protected status under international law, but they have been heavily targeted by Israel’s years-long offensive in Gaza. The Israeli military has repeatedly accused Hamas of operating inside medical facilities, an accusation the militant group has denied.
This nighttime attack is not the first time that the Nasser hospital itself has been targeted.
In August 2025, the hospital was hit by a double Israeli strike that killed at least 20 people, including journalists and health workers. The deadly attack sparked international outrage.
Of Gaza’s 37 hospitals, only two are considered “fully functional”, while 18 are partially functioning and 17 are considered non-functional after much of the enclave’s health system was devastated by the Israeli offensive, according to data released by the World Health Organization.
Israeli strikes have continued in Gaza despite a ceasefire agreement reached in October last year.
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