At least six people were killed and more than 20 wounded early on Thursday when a strike hit Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, in the south of Gaza, according to the territory’s Civil Defence agency. The blast struck the surgery department of the largest hospital in southern Gaza, wrecking wards that were treating patients and sheltering families who had fled their homes.
The strike hit the second floor of the Al-Yasin building inside the Nasser Medical Complex, in the western part of Khan Younis, the Anadolu news agency reported. The hospital’s director, Ahmed al-Farra, said the explosion caused extensive damage to the intensive care and surgical wards, and the building has been put entirely out of service. Eyewitnesses told the BBC that a single missile, fired from a warplane that briefly flew over the area, struck the building.
Among the dead was a surgeon, Rezik Abushira, identified by medics. The casualties included members of staff, patients and families sheltering inside the complex; some of the patients hurt had been due to undergo surgery the following day. The death toll rose through the night as rescue teams worked at the site: early reports put the number at four, then five, before the Civil Defence and the hospital put the figure at six. The hospital confirmed the six deaths in a statement.
The Israeli military later said it had targeted a senior Hamas member and other militants it said were operating from the hospital. That claim has not been independently verified. Earlier, a military spokesperson told the AFP news agency that officials were checking for information about the incident, and Israeli Army Radio described the strike as an “assassination operation”, according to reports by Anadolu and Middle East Eye.
The strike came 13 months into a ceasefire that took effect on 10 October 2025. Both sides accuse each other of breaking the truce: Israel says Hamas is trying to regroup and rebuild its arsenal, while Hamas says it remains committed to the ceasefire and accuses Israel of trying to undermine it. Gaza’s Health Ministry says 1,622 Palestinians have been killed and 5,878 injured since the truce took effect; its figures do not distinguish between fighters and civilians. The Israeli military says seven of its soldiers and one civilian contractor have been killed over the same period.
Nasser Hospital has been hit repeatedly during the war. In March 2025, a strike on its surgery department killed Ismail Barhoum, a Hamas political leader who was being treated there; Israel said at the time that it had targeted a senior Hamas figure. In August 2025, a double strike on the hospital killed at least 20 people, including five journalists and four health workers, according to the director-general of the World Health Organization. The latest strike forced the hospital to halt work in its surgical ward.
The casualty figures come from Gaza’s Civil Defence, a rescue agency that operates under the Hamas-run administration in Gaza, and from the hospital itself. There has been no independent count, and the BBC, which is prevented by Israel from reporting independently from inside Gaza, said it was unable to verify details of the incident.
Sources: Reuters, “Israeli strike on southern Gaza hospital kills four, Gaza civil defence says”, https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/israeli-strike-southern-gaza-hospital-kills-four-gaza-civil-defence-says-2026-11-11/ ; BBC News, “Surgery wards wrecked as strike hits southern Gaza hospital” (via World Right Now), https://worldrightnowlive.com/story/israeli-strike-on-nasser-hospital-kills-at-least-six-gaza-civil-defenc
