An Israeli airstrike hit Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis early on Thursday, and Gaza health officials said the Nasser Hospital strike killed six people and wounded at least 28.
Gaza’s Health Ministry said the Nasser Hospital strike hit the hospital’s surgery department. The dead included surgeon Rizk Abu Shaira and a 13-year-old boy, Jihad Naeem Muhammad Abu Tilikh, the ministry said. At least two patients were among the dead.
The strike hit the second floor of the Al-Yasin building, which houses the surgery department, and damaged the intensive care and surgical wards, according to the hospital’s director and Gaza Civil Defence. Civil Defence teams first reported four dead before revising the toll to at least six.
British surgeon Goher Rahbour, who is volunteering at Nasser Hospital, said the Nasser Hospital strike occurred just after midnight and shook the whole building. An Associated Press journalist at the scene said parts of the hospital’s second floor were destroyed.
Who was killed in the Nasser Hospital strike
“Dr. Rizq was at the hospital during the entire war. He was rescuing the wounded, the patients. He didn’t abandon his duties for even one day,” Dr. Mohammed Zaqout, director general of the Health Ministry in Gaza, told a crowd of mourners in a video captured for NBC News on Thursday. “He is one of the best doctors,” Zaqout said. “He was always proud to save lives.”
One woman, Tahani Ibrahim Abu Anza, said her brother, Khaled Abu Anza, was killed in the Nasser Hospital strike, and Nasser Hospital separately confirmed his death. Her brother, 53, had been at the hospital for physical therapy after undergoing surgery. “He did not come to the hospital to engage in combat or resistance. He came for medical treatment,” she said. She said she believed he was targeted.
Nasser Hospital in the city of Khan Younis is one of the few functioning medical facilities left in Gaza, where the health care system has been heavily damaged during the war. The Nasser Hospital strike was the latest blow to that system.
What the military said about the Nasser Hospital strike
The Israeli military and the Israel Security Agency said they struck a senior Hamas member and other militants, who they said had advanced attacks from the hospital overnight. In a later statement, they identified the senior member as Muhammad Abu Ismail, who they said served as commander of Hamas’ Khan Younis Brigade and had also been responsible for holding hostages in Gaza.
The military and the security agency said Hamas had established a presence within the hospital complex and used it as a command centre, stored weapons there and conducted interrogations and torture inside it. They shared photos of weapons they said had been found there. The military did not publicly provide evidence for the claim.
The commander the military identified was not among the dead, according to the Health Ministry. Israeli outlet Ynet reported that a commander in Hamas’ Khan Younis Brigade of that same name was killed in the strike. Asked to confirm that, the military said it would get back on the matter.
The military and the security agency said steps had been taken to mitigate harm to civilians, including precision munitions and aerial surveillance. The military said it was looking into reports that medical workers and patients were killed. It also said it had warned on several occasions that military activity at the hospital should be halted. Ahmed al-Farra, a doctor and the hospital’s general director, said no warning came before the attack.
Hamas condemned the allegations that it was using the hospital for military operations as lies of the criminal enemy and called the Nasser Hospital strike a war crime. Hospitals have protected status under international law, but they have been heavily targeted during Israel’s offensive in Gaza. The Israeli military has repeatedly accused Hamas of operating within medical facilities, a charge the militant group has denied.
A hospital under strain
The Nasser Hospital strike was not the first time the hospital has been targeted. In August 2025, the hospital was hit by a double-tap Israeli strike that killed at least 20 people, including journalists and health workers. The attack drew international condemnation.
Of Gaza’s 37 hospitals, two are fully functioning, 18 are partially functioning and 17 are nonfunctioning, according to the World Health Organization.
A report from the United Nations, the World Bank and the European Union said in April that more than 1,800 medical facilities in Gaza have been partially or completely destroyed since the conflict began. The Nasser Hospital strike came as Israeli strikes continued in Gaza despite a ceasefire agreement reached in October 2025.
The war in Gaza started on Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel, killing around 1,200 people and taking 251 others hostage.