The Israeli military struck a hospital in the southern Gaza Strip on Thursday, killing at least six people and injuring 28 more, according to local health officials.
Dr. Ahmed al-Farra, general director of Nasser Hospital, said in a news conference on Thursday that two missiles had hit the facility and that among the dead was Rezeq Abu Shaira, 52, a doctor.
Health officials reached in Gaza by phone said that a man called Khaled Abu Anza had also been killed. A spokeswoman for the Israeli military, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with protocol, said that Mr. Abu Anza was a Hamas operative.
The Israeli security agency and military said in a joint statement on Thursday that they had targeted Muhammad Abu Ismail, whom they identified as a Hamas commander “responsible for holding numerous hostages captive” during the Gaza war.
The Israeli authorities said that Hamas had established a command center at the hospital complex to stage operations against Israeli forces and was storing weapons there. They added that steps had been taken to mitigate harm to civilians.
Hamas said the Israeli claim that the hospital was used for military activity was a “blatant attempt to justify a heinous crime targeting a civilian medical facility.” Residents of Gaza have said that officials affiliated with Hamas-run Gaza government and security forces sometimes use the enclave’s hospitals as offices.
In a statement, Gaza’s health ministry condemned the attack, calling it a “flagrant violation of international laws and conventions.” It did not respond to the Israeli claims.
Nasser Hospital, in Khan Younis, is the largest functioning hospital in southern Gaza. Video recorded in the facility, distributed by The Associated Press, showed remains of the munitions used in the attack.
Trevor Ball, a former explosive-ordnance disposal technician for the U.S. Army who is now an analyst at Armament Research Services, a consulting firm, said that the footage showed two 250-pound precision-guided, American-manufactured aerial bombs. In the footage, it appeared that one of the bombs had failed to detonate after penetrating the building. A serial number was still visible on the warhead.
Naseem Hassan, an emergency medical worker at Nasser Hospital, said in the hours after the attack that missiles had hit a four-story building in the hospital complex, damaging the surgery department.
The attack comes more than a year into a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas that has not brought an end to Israeli military strikes in Gaza and that has done little to alleviate the dire and deadly living conditions for the enclave’s two million residents.
Israel has continued to carry out frequent strikes in Gaza despite a U.S.-brokered cease-fire that Israel and Hamas agreed to in October 2025. More than 1,600 people have been killed by Israeli fire during the cease-fire, according to Gaza’s health ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its death tolls.
Nasser Hospital has been struck by the Israeli military multiple times since the Hamas-led attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, prompted a devastating Israeli military response in Gaza. More than 74,000 people have been killed in the war, according to the health ministry.
In August last year, 20 people — including medical staff, rescue workers, patients and journalists — were killed in a strike on the hospital that drew a rare admission of error from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel, who called it a “tragic mishap.”
James McManagan contributed reporting.