Strike on Nasser Hospital in Gaza Kills at Least Six, Including a Surgeon
An early-morning strike hit the surgery department of Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, killing at least six people and wounding more than 20, Gaza's Civil Defence said. Israel's military said it had targeted Hamas militants operating inside the hospital.
A strike hit Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis early on Thursday, killing at least six people, including a surgeon, and wounding more than 20, according to Gaza’s Civil Defence agency. The blast struck the surgery department of the largest hospital in southern Gaza.
The strike hit the second floor of the Al-Yasin building inside the Nasser Medical Complex, in the western part of Khan Younis, according to the Anadolu news agency. The hospital’s director said the explosion caused extensive damage to the intensive care and surgical wards, and the hospital said work in its surgical ward had stopped.
Medics identified one of the dead as Rezik Abushira, a surgeon. The dead and wounded included staff, patients and families sheltering inside the complex, and some of the patients hurt had been due to undergo surgery the next day. The death toll rose through the night as rescue teams worked at the site, from four, then five, before the Civil Defence and the hospital put the figure at six.
Israel says it targeted Hamas militants
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, according to Reuters. 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. Reuters said it could not independently verify those claims.
Israeli Army Radio described the strike as an “assassination operation,” according to reports by Anadolu and Middle East Eye, without giving further details. A Hamas spokesperson called the strike a “fully-fledged war crime.”
A ceasefire under strain
The strike came 13 months into a ceasefire that took effect on 10 October 2025. Both sides accuse each other of breaking the truce. Israel says Hamas is trying to regroup and rebuild its arsenal, while Hamas says it remains committed to the ceasefire and accuses Israel of trying to undermine it.
Attacks have continued through the ceasefire period. Gaza’s Health Ministry says 1,622 Palestinians have been killed and 5,878 injured since the truce took effect. The Israeli military says seven of its soldiers and one civilian contractor have been killed over the same period.
Nasser Hospital has been hit repeatedly during the war. In March 2025, a strike on its surgery department killed Ismail Barhoum, a Hamas political leader who was being treated there. In August 2025, a double strike on the hospital killed at least 20 people, including five journalists and four health workers, according to the director-general of the World Health Organization.
The casualty figures in this report come from Gaza’s Civil Defence, a rescue agency that operates under the Hamas-run administration in Gaza, and from the hospital itself. There has been no independent count. The BBC, which is prevented by Israel from reporting independently from inside Gaza, said it was unable to verify details of the incident.
Reporting based on coverage by Reuters and the BBC.
