November 8, 2025
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israel struck one of the main hospitals in the Gaza Strip on Monday and then hit the facility again as journalists and rescue workers rushed to the scene. The strike killed at least 20 people and wounded scores more, local health workers said.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said the strike on Nasser Hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis was a “tragic mishap” and that the military was investigating.
Israeli media reported that troops fired two artillery shells, targeting what they suspected was a Hamas surveillance camera on the roof. The Reuters news agency said one of its reporters, who was operating a live television shot, was killed in the first strike, citing hospital officials.
It was not clear if he was the target. Reporters from different outlets had regularly set up live shots at that location.
The first strike hit an upper floor housing operating rooms and doctors' residences, killing at least two people, according to Zaher al-Waheidi, head of the records department at the Hamas-controlled Gaza Health Ministry.
The second strike hit an external stairwell as rescuers and journalists raced to the scene of the first, killing another 18. Around 80 people were wounded, including many in the hospital's courtyard, al-Waheidi said.
Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin, an Israeli military spokesman, said the army does not target civilians and had launched an internal investigation into the strikes. He accused Hamas of hiding among civilians but did not say whether Israel believed any militants were present during the strikes on the hospital.
Netanyahu’s statement said: "Israel deeply regrets the tragic mishap that occurred today at the Nasser Hospital in Gaza. Israel values the work of journalists, medical staff, and all civilians.”
Israel has attacked hospitals multiple times throughout the war, asserting that Hamas embeds itself in and around the facilities. Hamas terrorists have been seen inside such facilities during the war, and parts of those sites have been off limits to the public.
The health ministry said Sunday that at least 62,686 Palestinians have been killed in the war. It does not distinguish between fighters and civilians. The ministry is part of the Hamas-run government.
The war began when Hamas-led terrorists abducted 251 people and killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, in the 2023 attack. Most of the hostages have been released in ceasefires or other deals, but 50 remain in Gaza, with around 20 believed to be alive.
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