Israeli strike on Gaza hospital kills six Palestinians, health ministry says

Published12 November 2026, 03:32 GMT

Six people have been killed and about 30 injured in an Israeli air strike on Nasser hospital in the southern Gaza Strip, the Hamas-run health ministry says.

The hospital's director said two missiles hit a building containing surgical wards and intensive care units overnight, but that one of the missiles did not explode.

The health ministry said medical staff, patients and companions were killed, among them surgeon Dr Rizq Abu Shaira. It condemned the attack as a "flagrant violation of international laws and conventions".

The Israeli military said it targeted a commander of Hamas's armed wing and other fighters who had used the hospital as a "headquarters" to plan attacks on its forces.

Hamas said that Israel was spreading "false narratives" in a "blatant attempt to cover up a new war crime".

Under international law, hospitals have a protected status, but they have been repeatedly targeted during the Gaza war.

Israel accuses Hamas, which retains security control of parts of Gaza not occupied by Israeli troops, of cynically exploiting civilian infrastructure. It says the group stores weapons and runs command and control rooms in hospitals, which Hamas denies.

Israel does not allow international news organisations, including the BBC, into Gaza, making it difficult to verify what is happening in the territory.

The Nasser Medical Complex is located in the city of Khan Younis and is the largest hospital in southern Gaza, serving almost one million people.

In a video posted on social media, a paramedic from the Hamas-run Civil Defence agency who arrived at the building after the strike early on Thursday said a missile penetrated the five-storey structure and hit a room in the surgical department.

Other footage shared by activists showed thick smoke inside the building and extensive destruction on the second floor, where medical equipment and beds had been scattered by an explosion.

The hospital's director, Dr Ahmed al-Fara, later told a news conference that Israeli forces had fired two missiles at the al-Yasin surgery building but that only one exploded.

"What's happened in Nasser Medical Complex is targeting the health sector mainly. We are talking about doctors, we are talking about civilians, we are talking about patients," he said.

"Also, there is... huge damage [to] the infrastructure inside the hospital."

Footage filmed by a freelance journalist working for the BBC showed extensive damage to an operating theatre, wards and a sleeping area for medics, as well as hallways and lifts.

News agencies also published photos that appeared to show an unexploded missile.

Dr Mohammed Qdeih, a general surgery specialist who was wounded in the head, said he and other medical staff had just finished work around 00:30 and had been preparing to go to sleep when there was an explosion.

"My whole body was trapped under the rubble. For a moment, I felt as if I was about to lose consciousness, or that I was about to die," he told the BBC.

"I started struggling to free myself and started calling out, 'Guys! Guys!' I began crawling, trying to pull my leg out from beneath the rubble. I managed to pull myself free. It was dark, there were no lights, nothing at all."

He said he had been lying in a bed near Dr Rizq Abu Shaira, who was killed. Another colleague suffered a broken leg.

"Dr Rizq was the kindest person in this department. He was very kind and always willing to help... And of course, he was a surgeon, one of the best among us."

He added: "Patients were killed as well. There were patients in the rooms next to us who were killed. A patient comes to the hospital seeking treatment and leaves carried on people's shoulders. I do not know what kind of humanity this is."

The Israeli military said in a statement that its "precise strike" had targeted the commander of Hamas's Khan Younis Brigade, who it named as Mohammed Abu Ismail, alongside other fighters who were "hiding inside" Nasser hospital.

"The terrorists were struck in order to remove the threat they posed after turning the Nasser hospital compound into a headquarters and operating from there to advance dozens of terrorist plots against our forces and restore the brigade's force," it alleged.

The military added that it had issued advance warnings before the strike and released an audio recording of what it said was one given to a senior Gaza health official. But Fara insisted the hospital had received no warning of an attack.

A Hamas statement rejected the Israeli military's accusations, calling them "a blatant attempt to justify a documented crime targeting a civilian medical facility whose function and purpose are well known".

"The nature of the targeted site and the casualties inflicted on patients, doctors and medical staff expose the falsity and weakness of this narrative," it said.

However, local activists circulated claims overnight that the strike may have targeted a senior Hamas security figure who was hiding inside the building.

Fara said this was the seventh time that Nasser hospital had been struck during the war. In August 2025, a double Israeli strike killed 22 Palestinians, including journalists and health workers.

The World Health Organization (WHO) said it had documented a total of 1,056 attacks on healthcare in Gaza over the past three years, resulting in 1,010 deaths.

"Gaza's health facilities are lifelines for its people. They must be protected. They must never be militarized or attacked," warned Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the UN agency's director general.

Later on Thursday, at least four more Palestinians were reportedly killed in separate incidents in northern and central Gaza.

Medics said three were killed in Israeli air strikes in Gaza City, Jabalia and Deir al-Balah, while the fourth was killed by Israeli gunfire in Bureij refugee camp.

The Israeli military said it struck a "terrorist" in Deir al-Balah and another in Gaza City.

Israeli strikes on Gaza take place almost daily despite a US-brokered ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas in October last year.

More than 1,620 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the territory's health ministry, whose figures are considered reliable by the UN.

Israel says six of its soldiers have been killed in Gaza over the same period.

The humanitarian situation in Gaza also remains dire and has recently deteriorated further as a result of heavy rains last weekend that reportedly flooded tens of thousands of tents housing displaced families.

The Gaza war was triggered by the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, when about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.

Since then, more than 74,650 people have been killed in Gaza, the health ministry says.