Israeli Strikes on Gaza Hospital Kill 20, Draw Condemnation From Medical Aid Groups
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At least 20 people, including five journalists, were killed in Israeli airstrikes on Nasser Hospital in southern Gaza, sparking outrage from humanitarian groups who say the attacks have gutted one of the last functioning medical facilities in the region.
Palestinian health officials said the strikes hit the hospital in Khan Younis on Monday, leaving dozens more wounded, including critically ill patients. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described the incident as a “tragic mishap.”
Jennifer Tierney, executive director of Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders) Australia, told ABC News Australia the assault was part of a broader pattern of attacks on Gaza’s medical system.
“Like all of the other attacks on medical facilities throughout Gaza, we’re horrified,” Tierney said. “What we’re seeing is absolutely monstrous.”
Loss of Critical Facility
Tierney said Nasser Hospital was the only partially functioning hospital in southern Gaza able to handle critical injuries. Its destruction has forced patients to seek care at facilities that are already overrun.
“You’ve got people who already aren’t getting treatment, who don’t have the medical supplies that they need to survive,” she said. “We’re going to have to be doing things like putting critically injured people into donkey carts to try to move them.”
MSF staff were present at the hospital during the strikes. Tierney said they took cover in a laboratory while emergency workers mobilized to help the wounded.
“The area of the hospital that was struck were the emergency stairs,” she said. “The cynicism of that, where you have people in a terrible condition and then trying to save them from yet another attack.”
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Aid Workers and Journalists Among the Dead
Among those killed was Maryam, a photographer who had previously worked with MSF. Tierney said the deaths underscored a grim reality facing aid workers and reporters in Gaza.
“Everyone who is witness to this genocide — be they photojournalists, doctors, nurses, journalists — they’re being killed and struck from the earth so that they can’t bear witness to the atrocity that is happening inside Gaza right now,” she said.
Rejecting Israeli Explanation
Netanyahu said the airstrike was unintended, but Tierney dismissed that account.
“The idea that it was a mishap on top of all the other mishaps that have happened is highly unbelievable at this point,” she said. “I’ve described it as gaslighting the international community before, and I will again.”
Tierney said MSF has documented repeated strikes on hospitals and aid workers, which she called a “direct attack” on humanitarian services.
Strained Medical System
Even before the latest strike, Gaza’s health system was at breaking point. Tierney said the ongoing blockade has left hospitals without fuel, electricity and critical supplies.
“We’re seeing people dying of wounds that they shouldn’t die from because they can’t have their wounds appropriately cared for,” she said. “This is the complete destruction of a medical system, which is also part of a genocidal attempt to eliminate the population inside Gaza.”
She said MSF teams report 250 people are injured daily in Gaza, overwhelming the limited number of hospitals still operating.
Displacement and Insecurity
As Israel continues its offensive in Gaza City, many residents have fled south to Khan Younis. But Tierney said few areas are safe.
“A very tiny percentage of Gaza is considered ‘safe,’” she said. “Even then, there are security incidents happening that are affecting civilians, our water trucks, the clinics in which we’re working.”
Despite the risks, Tierney praised the resilience of MSF staff and emergency responders who continue to work amid bombardments.
“I’m just so proud to even be remotely associated with them when these things happen,” she said.
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