The doctors had just come off shift and were settling down to rest when the blast came. An Israeli strike in the early hours of Thursday tore into a surgical building at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, killing at least six people and wounding around 30, according to Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry. Those killed included Rizq Abu Shaira, a surgeon on the ward, and a boy aged 13.
Hospital director Ahmed al-Fara said two missiles struck the building, one of which failed to detonate. Footage from inside showed collapsed ceiling panels, wrecked operating rooms and corridors buried in debris as patients were wheeled out. A wounded colleague who had been resting near Abu Shaira told the BBC he was “the kindest person” in the department. The surgeon had appeared in this year’s documentary “American Doctor”, which follows foreign medics working in Gaza.
Israel’s army named its intended target as Muhammad Abu Ismail, described by the military as head of the Hamas brigade in Khan Younis, and alleged that fighters had been directing operations from inside the compound. Hamas denied this outright, labelling the strike a crime under the laws of war. Neither account can be independently confirmed, because Israel does not allow international journalists free access to the territory.
No medical centre in the south of the strip is bigger, and few anywhere in Gaza still function. International law grants medical facilities special protection, yet hospitals have been hit repeatedly over the course of the conflict.
The strike adds to the strain on a ceasefire that has been in place since October 2025 but has not ended the killing. Palestinian officials count well over a thousand deaths from Israeli attacks since the truce began, and aid groups warn that families sheltering in flimsy tents now face winter storms as well.
