An Israeli airstrike hit one of the main hospitals still operating in the Gaza Strip shortly after midnight on Thursday, killing six people, including a surgeon and a 13-year-old boy, Gaza’s health ministry said. The strike tore through the surgical wing of Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, in southern Gaza, and knocked out a department that serves half of the territory’s two million people.
The attack, which came in the early hours of November 12, has raised fresh questions about a ceasefire that is now more than a year old but has been fraying for months. It was the seventh time the Nasser Medical Complex has been struck during the war, according to hospital officials.
What happened at Nasser Hospital
The strike hit the second floor of the Al-Yassin building inside the Nasser Medical Complex, where the hospital’s surgery wards and intensive care unit are located. Gaza’s Civil Defense said rescue teams pulled the bodies of all six victims from the rubble and evacuated more than 20 injured people.
At least 28 people were wounded, according to the Associated Press, which cited Gaza’s health ministry. Gaza’s Civil Defense said two doctors were among the injured and were in critical condition.
British surgeon Goher Rahbour, who is volunteering at Nasser Hospital, said the strike came just after midnight and shook the whole building. Footage from inside the hospital showed charred debris scattered across the destroyed unit, and one unexploded bomb lying among the wreckage. A label on the bomb identified it as a US-made GBU-39/B, a 250-pound weapon supplied to Israel, CNN reported.
Work in several areas of the hospital has been halted after the strike, and the surgery department, which serves around a million people in southern Gaza, is out of service.
Who was killed
Among the dead was Dr Rizk Abu Shaira, a 52-year-old general surgeon. He had been featured in a 2026 documentary, American Doctor, about visiting US doctors working alongside Palestinian medics in Gaza. Also killed was 13-year-old Jihad Naim Mohammed Abu Teilakh, a patient who was due to have surgery. At least two other patients were among the dead, the health ministry said.
Gaza’s Civil Defense named all six victims. Three more Palestinians were killed later on November 12 in separate incidents, two in an airstrike on a car in Gaza City and one by gunfire in the Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza, medics said, taking the day’s death toll to at least nine.
What Israel said
Israel’s military confirmed it carried out the strike, saying it had targeted Muhammad Abu Ismail, whom it described as the commander of Hamas’ Khan Younis Brigade, along with other militants it said were hiding inside the hospital. It did not provide evidence for the claim.
The commander it named was not among the dead, according to the health ministry and the Associated Press. Israel has repeatedly said Hamas uses hospitals and other civilian buildings for military purposes, a charge Hamas denies.
A hospital under repeated attack
Nasser Hospital is one of the largest healthcare facilities in southern Gaza and one of the few still functioning in the territory. It has been hit at least seven times since the war began, hospital officials say, and each strike has chipped away at its ability to treat the wounded.
According to the United Nations, there is no fully functioning hospital left in the devastated enclave. Medical staff have warned for months that the health system is running on exhausted doctors, dwindling supplies and wards that fill up faster than they can be repaired.
The strike on Nasser comes amid a wider strain on the ceasefire. The US-brokered truce came into effect in October 2025 after two years of devastating conflict, but Israel has carried out near-daily strikes in Gaza since then. The United Nations says Israeli forces have killed more than 1,400 people in Gaza since the ceasefire took hold.
A region on edge
The hospital strike also landed on a tense day for the wider region. On Wednesday evening, Israeli media reported that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s security cabinet had ordered the military to step up preparations for a possible new attack on Iran. Tehran answered within hours, with a senior Iranian official warning that US military bases across the region would be legitimate targets if Washington launched another war.
On Thursday, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said two tankers carrying more than four million barrels of oil had caught fire after an accident in the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway through which around a quarter of the world’s seaborne oil flows. Oil prices rose about 1 percent on Wednesday after Tehran rejected a US proposal to transfer its stockpile of highly enriched uranium to a third country.
For the patients and staff at Nasser Hospital, though, the wider politics are a distant concern. What matters now is whether the surgery wards can reopen, and how quickly. With the department out of service, the wounded from Thursday’s strike, and from the strikes that are likely to follow, have one fewer place to go.
FAQs
Where is Nasser Hospital?
Nasser Hospital is in Khan Younis, in southern Gaza. It is one of the largest medical facilities in the territory and one of the few hospitals still operating.
How many people were killed in the strike?
Six people were killed, including a surgeon, Dr Rizk Abu Shaira, and a 13-year-old boy. At least 28 people were wounded, according to Gaza’s health ministry.
What did Israel say about the strike?
Israel’s military said it targeted Muhammad Abu Ismail, the commander of Hamas’ Khan Younis Brigade, and other militants it said were hiding in the hospital. The commander was not among the dead.
Has Nasser Hospital been attacked before?
Yes. Hospital officials say Thursday’s strike was the seventh attack on the Nasser Medical Complex during the war.
Is the Gaza ceasefire still holding?
A US-brokered ceasefire came into effect in October 2025, but Israel has carried out near-daily strikes since then. The UN says more than 1,400 people have been killed in Gaza since the truce began.
The situation in Gaza remains fluid, and the toll from Thursday’s strike may change as rescue teams continue their work. This story will be updated as more details emerge.
