Six Palestinians died when an Israeli airstrike hit a building at Nasser Hospital in southern Gaza early on Thursday, BBC News reported.
The strike hit a structure housing surgical wards and intensive care units at the largest medical complex in southern Gaza. Twenty other people sustained injuries in the blast, according to Hamas authorities.
A surgeon is among the dead, and the director of the Nasser Medical Complex told reporters that a vertical strike severely damaged intensive care and surgical departments for both men and women. Videos shared by activists showed thick smoke inside the building alongside scattered medical equipment and beds on the second floor.
IDF Targets Hamas Command Center at Nasser Hospital
“a senior terrorist and additional Hamas terrorists as they were hiding at the Nasser Hospital,” the Israel Defense Forces and the Israel Security Agency said the overnight operation targeted A security source told The Times of Israel that the primary target was the current commander of Hamas’s Khan Younis Brigade.
Palestinian reports indicated that one of those killed was Mourad Abu Zurifa, an operative involved in the October 7, 2023, kidnapping of Edina Moshe, Ynetnews reported.
“as a command center for military and terrorist activities,” the IDF and ISA maintained in a joint statement that Hamas turned the medical facility into The military said that precision munitions and aerial surveillance were used to mitigate civilian harm, though it added that the results of the strike remain under review.
“The IDF and Shin Bet view Hamas’s cynical use of civilian and medical infrastructure for military purposes, while endangering the lives of patients, medical staff, and civilians, gravely,” the joint statement said.
Hamas denied operating command rooms or storing weapons inside medical facilities. Under international law, hospitals hold protected status, but the compound has faced repeated military actions during the ongoing conflict, including a double Israeli strike in August 2025 that killed at least 20 people.
Israeli Attacks Cause Deaths Despite Ceasefire Agreement
The strike occurred despite a ceasefire agreement brokered last October. According to the Gaza health ministry, more than 1,600 people have died in Israeli attacks since that agreement took effect. Both Israel and Hamas have accused each other of violating the truce terms.
