Israeli strike kills six Palestinians at Gaza hospital, health ministry reports

Casualties and damage at Nasser

The Hamas-run health ministry said six people died and about 20 were injured in the strike on Nasser hospital in Khan Younis. It said those killed included medical staff, patients and companions, naming surgeon Dr Rizq Abu Shaira among them.

Footage showed damage to an operating theatre, wards, a sleeping area for medics, corridors and lifts. Other images showed smoke inside the building and medical beds and equipment scattered across the second floor. Photographs also appeared to show an unexploded missile in the surgical building.

Nasser Medical Complex is southern Gaza’s largest hospital and serves nearly one million people. Dr Mohammed Qdeih, a general surgery specialist injured in the head, said staff had finished work around 00:30 and were preparing to sleep when the blast happened.

Accounts of the strike differ

Israel’s military said its strike targeted Mohammed Abu Ismail, whom it identified as commander of Hamas’s Khan Younis Brigade, and other fighters it said were inside the hospital. The military said it had issued advance warnings and released an audio recording that it described as a warning to a senior Gaza health official.

Fara said the hospital had received no warning. The ministry condemned the attack as a violation of international law, while Hamas accused Israel of using false claims to conceal a war crime.

Israel accuses Hamas of using civilian infrastructure to store weapons and operate command rooms, including in hospitals. Hamas denies those allegations.

Earlier attacks and wider toll

Fara said this was the seventh strike on Nasser hospital during the war. In August 2025, a double Israeli strike there killed 22 Palestinians, including journalists and health workers.

The health ministry says more than 1,620 people have been killed in Gaza since then, and more than 74,650 overall. The UN considers the ministry’s casualty figures reliable. Conditions in Gaza remain dire and have worsened after heavy rain last weekend reportedly flooded tens of thousands of tents sheltering displaced families.