Israeli Strike on Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis Kills Six, Including a Surgeon

An Israeli airstrike on a building at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, in southern Gaza, killed at least six people, including a surgeon, and wounded 20 others early on Thursday, a spokesman for Gaza's civil defence service told Reuters. Gaza's Health Ministry gave the same death toll to the Associated Press and said a doctor was among the dead.

Surgery department hit

Mahmoud Basal, the spokesperson for Gaza's civil defence, said the airstrike hit the surgery department of the hospital and caused extensive damage. Medics identified the dead surgeon as Rezik Abushira. An Associated Press journalist at the scene said parts of the building's second floor were destroyed. Reuters video from inside the hospital showed rubble and furniture strewn across rooms, wires dangling from damaged ceilings, injured patients carried on stretchers through debris-covered corridors, and firefighters working outside.

Israel says it targeted a senior Hamas militant

The Israeli military later said it had targeted a senior Hamas militant and other members of the group's armed wing who it said were operating inside the hospital in Khan Younis. In a statement, the military accused Hamas of using the hospital complex as a command centre for military operations, including storing weapons, operating command-and-control rooms and using hospital facilities as observation posts and shelters for fighters. The Associated Press reported that the military gave no evidence for the claim, and Reuters said it could not independently verify the military's allegations.

A Hamas spokesperson condemned the strike as a "fully-fledged war crime", in a statement reported by Reuters.

One of the few hospitals still working

Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis is one of the few functioning medical facilities left in Gaza, where the health system has been badly damaged by the war, the Associated Press reported. Israel accuses Hamas and its allies of using hospitals as cover for military activity. Israeli forces have targeted Nasser Hospital before. In 2025, the military killed five journalists, including AP contributor Mariam Dagga, when it struck a gathering point for local reporters at the complex, the Associated Press reported.

Strike during a ceasefire both sides accuse each other of breaking

Israel says Hamas is trying to regroup and rebuild its arsenal, and Hamas says it is committed to a year-old ceasefire and accuses Israel of trying to undermine the agreement, Reuters reported. At least 1,600 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks in Gaza since the deal was agreed, according to the territory's health officials, while Israel says four soldiers have been killed. Gaza health authorities say more than 74,000 people have been killed since Israel began its assault on Gaza in October 2023. Israel launched its offensive after Hamas-led gunmen carried out an attack on southern Israel in which, according to Israel, about 1,200 people were killed.