Israeli Airstrike Hits Gaza Medical Complex as Death Toll Rises Amid Flooding
Israeli strikes on the Nasser Medical Complex kill six, leaving 13 dead. The UN pleads for waterproof tents as Gaza residents face devastating floods.
POLICY WIRE — Gaza City, Gaza — Israeli military operations have resulted in the deaths of at least 13 Palestinians across the Gaza Strip, while the United Nations issues an urgent plea for waterproof shelters to assist hundreds of thousands of people displaced by severe seasonal flooding.
According to Gaza’s health ministry and civil defense units, an Israeli air strike targeting the Nasser Medical Complex west of Khan Younis in southern Gaza killed at least six people. The assault, which occurred early Thursday morning, left another 20 individuals injured.
Hind Khoudary of Al Jazeera, reporting from Gaza City, noted that the majority of the casualties were patients, including several individuals who were prepared for surgical procedures the following day. She highlighted that this incident marks the seventh time Israeli forces have targeted the hospital facility over the last two years.
Khoudary explained that the strike hit the second floor of the complex, which remains one of the largest medical facilities in the territory and the only functioning hospital in Khan Younis, providing critical services to approximately 500,000 residents.
The Israeli military stated the operation was intended to neutralize a Hamas member located at the hospital. In response, Hamas condemned the action, labeling it a war crime that demonstrates the impunity of the occupation. The group called on the United States administration and international mediators to stop the violations and enforce a commitment to a ceasefire.
Military attacks have persisted on a daily basis despite a ceasefire agreement that was established in October 2025. Gaza’s health ministry reports that at least 1,600 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks since that agreement began.
Prior to the strike at Nasser Medical Complex, seven other Palestinians were killed in various attacks across the territory. On Wednesday, an air attack killed 38-year-old Mohammed Salem al-Daash in the Sabra neighborhood south of Gaza City.
Other casualties included a Palestinian shot by forces east of the Bureij camp in central Gaza, and another individual killed by a drone strike in the Nassr neighborhood, northwest of Gaza City.
In the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood north of Gaza City, a strike on a tent housing displaced civilians killed at least two people and wounded others. Khoudary characterized these events as indiscriminate attacks on civilians, noting instances where people died while performing basic tasks, such as a man killed filling a water tank.
Khoudary further reported that two brothers from the al-Absi family perished while sheltering in a tent on al-Jalaa Street, asserting that no location in Gaza remains safe.
The violence coincides with a UN-led request for tent supplies, following reports from Gaza’s Government Media Office indicating that 70,000 tents were submerged by heavy rains over the weekend. The UN children’s agency stated that the weather has directly impacted at least 106,000 people in the region recently.
Reporting by Policy-Wire (PW)
