The Israeli military said in a statement that its “precise strike” had targeted the commander of Hamas’s Khan Younis Brigade, who it named as Mohammed Abu Ismail, alongside other fighters who were “hiding inside” Nasser hospital.
“The terrorists were struck in order to remove the threat they posed after turning the Nasser hospital compound into a headquarters and operating from there to advance dozens of terrorist plots against our forces and restore the brigade’s force,” it alleged.
The military added that it had issued advance warnings before the strike and released an audio recording of what it said was one given to a senior Gaza health official. But Fara insisted the hospital had received no warning of an attack.
A Hamas statement rejected the Israeli military’s accusations, calling them “a blatant attempt to justify a documented crime targeting a civilian medical facility whose function and purpose are well known”.
“The nature of the targeted site and the casualties inflicted on patients, doctors and medical staff expose the falsity and weakness of this narrative,” it said.
However, local activists circulated claims overnight that the strike may have targeted a senior Hamas security figure who was hiding inside the building.
Fara said this was the seventh time that Nasser hospital had been struck during the war. In August 2025, a double Israeli strike killed 22 Palestinians, including journalists and health workers.
The World Health Organization (WHO) said it had documented a total of 1,056 attacks on healthcare in Gaza over the past three years, resulting in 1,010 deaths.
“Gaza’s health facilities are lifelines for its people. They must be protected. They must never be militarized or attacked,” warned Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the UN agency’s director general.
Later on Thursday, at least four more Palestinians were reportedly killed in separate incidents in northern and central Gaza.
Medics said three were killed in Israeli air strikes in Gaza City, Jabalia and Deir al-Balah, while the fourth was killed by Israeli gunfire in Bureij refugee camp.
The Israeli military said it struck a “terrorist” in Deir al-Balah and another in Gaza City.
Israeli strikes on Gaza take place almost daily despite a US-brokered ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas in October last year.
More than 1,620 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the territory’s health ministry, whose figures are considered reliable by the UN.
Israel says six of its soldiers have been killed in Gaza over the same period.
The humanitarian situation in Gaza also remains dire and has recently deteriorated further as a result of heavy rains last weekend that reportedly flooded tens of thousands of tents housing displaced families.
The Gaza war was triggered by the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, when about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.
Since then, more than 74,650 people have been killed in Gaza, the health ministry says.
