Israeli strike kills six at Nasser Hospital in Gaza

An Israeli air strike on Nasser Hospital in southern Gaza early on Thursday, 12 November, killed at least six Palestinians, including a surgeon, and disabled a surgical ward. Gaza’s Health Ministry identified the surgeon as Rizk Abu Shaira. The attack damaged several floors of the hospital in Khan Younis, scattering debris across rooms containing beds and medical equipment.

Medical sources recorded six deaths and 30 injuries, with patients and healthcare workers among those wounded. The hospital’s director said staff received no warning before the strike, describing the danger facing patients and medical teams. He expressed concern that the facility would face further attacks. Israel’s military said it targeted Muhammad Abu Ismail, a Hamas commander, and accused Hamas of using the hospital complex for military purposes.

Hamas denied using hospitals as military bases, saying they provided medical care. ABC News reported that Israel released graphics identifying the building it struck but did not provide further evidence supporting its allegations about the hospital’s use. Al Jazeera English’s Tareq Abu Azzoum reported broken concrete, exposed metal and damage extending through the upper floors of the hospital.

Medical teams were caring for patients when the strike occurred, disrupting treatment and adding to the workload of staff who also had to respond to casualties from the attack. British surgeon Goher Rahbour, volunteering at Nasser, said he was on the fourth floor of the surgical department when the explosion shook the building. He reported that the recovery area on that floor had been destroyed.

Medical Aid for Palestinians reported extensive damage to surgical and intensive care areas, citing information from the Palestinian Health Ministry. Two missiles struck the upper floors of the hospital’s Yassin Building shortly after midnight. The organisation also said one missile failed to explode and remained inside the building, creating an additional danger for those still receiving or providing care.

The hospital’s director said Nasser served nearly one million people and received large numbers of patients requiring treatment and surgery. He described the latest strike as the seventh attack on the complex and expressed fear that the targeting would continue. Nasser is one of the few hospitals still functioning in Gaza, and damage to its surgical facilities reduces the space and equipment available to treat patients.

Hospitals receive special protection under international humanitarian law, which states that medical facilities can lose that protection if they are used for acts harmful to the enemy outside their humanitarian role. The International Committee of the Red Cross stresses that providing medical treatment to wounded combatants does not, by itself, constitute an act harmful to the enemy.

Key points

• Six Palestinians, including a surgeon, were killed in an Israeli air strike on Nasser Hospital in Gaza.
• The hospital's surgical ward was disabled, and medical teams were caring for patients when the strike occurred.
• This was the seventh attack on the Nasser Hospital complex, which serves nearly one million people in southern Gaza.