A medic has been killed in an Israeli missile strike on a hospital in Gaza, just as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was making a visit to the war-torn territory.
The attack on Tuesday came two days after another major hospital was targeted, fuelling warnings from the UN that the humanitarian crisis in Gaza is now the worst it has been since conflict began.
According to medical staff, the latest strike hit the entrance to the Kuwaiti field hospital in al-Muwasi, near the city of Khan Younis.
One medic died and nine others were wounded.
Hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians are living in the area, mostly in ragged makeshift tents alongside sand dunes.
They left their homes after Israeli forces resumed conflict and seized swathes of southern Gaza, including Rafah city, which Palestinians are banned from entering.
On Tuesday, Netanyahu made a rare visit to Gaza, as Israeli forces have continued their air and ground offensive in the strip since the collapse of the ceasefire in March.
The visit was confirmed by the prime minister’s office, who said he had visited troops in northern Gaza.
Just two days previously, an Israeli missile partially destroyed al-Ahli hospital, which was the only facility still providing critical care in northern Gaza.
Doctors said the blasts had left the hospital barely operational and unable to carry out surgeries or accept any more patients.
Antonio Guterres, the UN Secretary General, said he was “deeply alarmed” by the incident, stressing that hospitals were protected under international humanitarian law.
Israel has repeatedly targeted hospitals in Gaza over the past 18 months, alleging that they are used by Hamas to conceal terrorist activities.
Israeli forces claimed al-Ahli was being used as a “command and control” centre by Hamas, an allegation the group denied.
Paramedics carrying out rescue operations in Gaza have also been targeted.
Doctors working in Gaza warned that the situation for provision of medical care was at breaking point.
Dr. Mohammad Zahir, an emergency doctor at Gaza’s Indonesia hospital, said that if the aid blockade continued, severely ill children, cancer and kidney patients would all soon lose their lives.
“We are living through a severe crisis alongside the broader humanitarian catastrophe,” said Zahir.
“Inside the hospital, there is not only a lack of resources, but a massive shortage of essential medicines and medical supplies.
There is also a shortage of ambulances, medications for chronic illnesses and cancer patients, surgical supplies, and even hospital beds – all due to the ongoing closure of the border crossings.”
The UN office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs said the situation in Gaza was “likely the worst it has been in the 18 months since the outbreak of hostilities.”
Since the collapse of the ceasefire with Hamas, Israel has blocked all aid to the territory since 2 March, resulting in critical shortages of food, water, fuel, and medicine.
Staff at Nasser hospital, one of the largest hospitals in Gaza – which is only partially functional after being hit in an airstrike last month – reported running out of gauze and burn creams this week.
It is the longest period that Israel has denied aid to Gaza, and human rights groups said the tactic – meant to pressure Hamas into releasing the remaining hostages it holds – amounted to a war crime.
Raeda Hijazi, living in a tent in the humanitarian zone in western Gaza with her four children, said they regularly survived only on salt and bread and had no choice but to drink contaminated water.
“There is no fuel to purify or pump water, and even the available food is contaminated,” she said.
“Vegetables are completely unaffordable.
I cook using burning plastic, even though I know it contains carcinogenic substances, but there’s no alternative.
Insects are everywhere in the tents due to the garbage accumulating in the streets.
Words are not enough to describe the suffering.”
Khetam Abu Ouda, 49, living in Abasan Al-Kabira, east of Khan Younis, said he and his family had been displaced 20 times since the start of the war.
They recently returned to the rubble of their home but were sharing it with 30 other displaced people and feared that as water was running out, they would soon have to move again.
He said groups were no longer distributing food.
“The closure of crossings will lead to a slow and gradual death for the people here unless a radical solution is reached and the war is stopped,” said Ouda.
Israel has also resumed its airstrikes and ground operations in Gaza, displacing about 400,000 people and leading to a surge in civilian casualties, with 1,600 killed since March alone.
Speaking to Yedioth Ahronoth, an Israeli newspaper, an unnamed security official claimed the strategy was working and would force Hamas to agree to a deal on the hostages.
“The military pressure is having an impact,” said the official.
“They have a shortage of gas and the food and the fuel will run out in a few weeks.
The big achievement of the residents’ return to the northern Gaza Strip has been erased.
That’s rattled them.”
Pressure has been mounting on Netanyahu’s government to secure the release of the remaining 58 hostages in Gaza, 24 of whom are believed to be alive.
Thousands of former and reservist soldiers, as well as over 250 former Mossad agents gave their backing to a letter calling for an end to the war, accusing Netanyahu of putting the lives of the hostages at risk for his own political gain.
As Israel launched more missiles in Gaza on Thursday, a Hamas armed wing spokesperson said on Telegram that they had lost contact with the group holding Israeli-American hostage Edan Alexander, who has been held captive in Gaza for more than 550 days, following a “direct strike” on his location.
Alexander had appeared alive and agitated in a Hamas propaganda video released over the weekend in which he accused the “disgusting Israeli government” of deserting him and said he was “collapsing mentally and physically.”
Reports emerged this week that Israel had put forward a ceasefire deal with Hamas that included releasing half of the living hostages.
However, on Tuesday, a Palestinian source told the BBC that Hamas had rejected the deal as it did not include a commitment to end the war or withdraw IDF forces from Gaza.
Israeli’s offensive in response to the attacks by Hamas on southern Israel on 7 October 2023 has now claimed 51,000 lives, according to the Gaza health ministry.
The count does not differentiate between civilians or combatants, but women and children make up more than half of the dead.
Earlier this month, a group of UN experts said Israel’s actions in Gaza were leading to the “destruction of Palestinian life.”
“If they are not killed by bombs or bullets, they slowly suffocate for lack of basic means of survival,” they said.
“The only difference is the means and speed of death.
image source from：https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/apr/15/medics-killed-and-wounded-in-israeli-attack-on-gaza-hospital
