An Israeli airstrike struck Nasser Hospital, the largest medical facility in southern Gaza, on Sunday, killing at least five people, including a 16-year-old patient and a Hamas political official receiving medical treatment, according to multiple reports. The attack came just hours after U.S. doctors volunteering at the hospital spoke to Western media outlets, condemning Israel’s military actions in Gaza.
The airstrike ignited a fire and destroyed the second floor of the surgical unit, rendering the ward inoperable. The Israeli military claimed it was targeting a Hamas leader, but human rights advocates and medical professionals denounced the attack as a war crime, arguing that hospitals are protected under international humanitarian law.
Israeli forces bombed the surgical building of Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, with reports confirming multiple casualties and the destruction of critical medical infrastructure. The attack specifically targeted the men’s surgical unit, where hundreds of patients were receiving treatment.
One of the victims was Ibrahim, a 16-year-old boy, who had been recovering from surgery performed by U.S. doctor Feroze Sidhwa.
Dr. Sidhwa, a California-based surgeon, was on his way to replace Ibrahim’s dressings when the airstrike hit the hospital.
“He would have gone home tomorrow. If I had been changing his dressings, as I planned to this evening, I probably would have been killed too. Attacking hospitals is a war crime, and it needs to stop,” Sidhwa said on social media.
The doctor later confirmed in an interview with The Independent that Ibrahim had been pronounced dead after the strike.
“When they opened the blanket it was obvious that it was my patient Ibrahim that I’d operated on a few days ago. He was dead, he was dead as a doornail. His head would have been eviscerated, his pupils were fixed and dilated, he had no heartbeat, so he was dead,” Sidhwa said. “He was doing perfectly well, and to have him be killed literally in his hospital bed, it’s not normal at all.”
The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) later confirmed the airstrike on Nasser Hospital, claiming that it targeted Hamas political official Ismail Barhoum, who was receiving medical treatment at the facility. Hamas-affiliated Al-Aqsa TV reported that Barhoum and his nephew, Ibrahim, were both killed in the attack.
Hamas denounced the bombing, stating that it violated international agreements and exemplified Israel’s “disregard for all international norms and agreements.”
Under the Geneva Conventions, hospitals cannot be targeted in military operations unless they are actively being used for hostile purposes. Even in those cases, strikes must be proportional and consider the risk to civilian lives.
International human rights groups and Palestinian health officials condemned the attack, warning that Israel’s continued bombing of medical facilities constitutes a war crime under international law.
The Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza blamed Israel for the strike, saying:
“Occupation forces have just targeted the surgical building inside Nasser Medical Complex, which houses many patients and injured individuals, resulting in a large fire at the location.”
The attack on Nasser Hospital is part of a broader escalation in Israel’s military offensive in Gaza.
In the past week alone, Israeli forces have killed over 200 children, with an Irish surgeon volunteering in Gaza reporting that the average age of child fatalities is between 6 and 8 years old.
Medical facilities in Gaza are already overwhelmed, with many hospitals operating at full capacity and facing severe shortages of medicine, food, and fuel.
Humanitarian groups have warned for weeks that Israel’s blockade on Gaza—which has cut off food, water, and medical supplies—is leading to mass starvation and an imminent famine.
“No food, water, medicines or fuel have entered Gaza in three weeks, marking a longer siege than what was in place in the first phase of the war. Every day without food inches Gaza closer to an acute hunger crisis.”
The bombing of Nasser Hospital came just hours after U.S. doctors stationed there gave an interview on CNN, where they criticized Israel’s military actions and Western media’s portrayal of the war.
Dr. Mark Perlmutter, a North Carolina-based surgeon, condemned U.S. and Western complicity in the genocide unfolding in Gaza.
“The carnage induced by our last five presidents, our largely Republican legislature, and the previous legislatures, and the whitewashing performed by the American and Western European legacy media is directly responsible for 100 percent of the 100,000 kids” believed to be killed in the genocide by some estimates, Perlmutter said.
Perlmutter also criticized mainstream Western media, arguing that news organizations suppress coverage of Israeli war crimes.
“The issue is that, when it’s a thunderstorm in Palestine since 1948, and Israel says it’s sunny outside, the American and Western media … says it’s an absolutely beautiful day,” he said.
Shortly after posting about the bombing of Nasser Hospital and the deaths of civilians in Gaza, Perlmutter’s Instagram account was suspended.
Israel’s renewed military offensive in Gaza has resulted in widespread destruction and mass civilian casualties.
Gaza’s Health Ministry reported that over 50,000 people have been killed since October 7, marking one of the deadliest conflicts in modern history.
The Israeli military has continued to forcibly displace Palestinian civilians, with thousands of people forced to flee their tents under heavy gunfire in the Tel al-Sultan district in southern Gaza.
Meanwhile, Israel has blocked all aid deliveries, preventing food, water, and medical supplies from reaching millions of starving civilians.
With no ceasefire agreement in sight, international outcry continues to mount, as more world leaders call for an end to the violence and accountability for war crimes.
The bombing of Nasser Hospital is the latest in a series of Israeli attacks on Gaza’s medical facilities, which have resulted in widespread civilian casualties.
International humanitarian law prohibits targeting hospitals, yet Israel continues to justify its airstrikes on medical centers, claiming Hamas is operating from within.
With over 50,000 Palestinians killed and Gaza’s healthcare system on the brink of collapse, humanitarian organizations are calling for an independent investigation into the attack.
As Dr. Sidhwa emphasized after witnessing the killing of his patient, Ibrahim:
“He was doing perfectly well, and to have him be killed literally in his hospital bed, it’s not normal at all.”
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