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A medic has been killed in an Israeli missile strike on a hospital in Gaza.
The attack on Tuesday came two days after another major hospital was targeted, fuelling warnings from the UN that the humanitarian crisis in the territory 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 offensive operations and seized swathes of southern Gaza, including Rafah city, which Palestinians are banned from entering.
On Sunday, 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 accept any patients.
António 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 provision of medical care was at breaking point. “The repeated targeting of the healthcare system has instilled fear and shaken the confidence of medical teams, especially after seeing the torture, abuse, and continuous targeting they endure. Enough is enough,” said Dr Moataz Harara, head of the emergency department at al-Ahli.
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 in March, Israel has blocked all aid to the territory, resulting in critical shortages of food, water, fuel and medicine. 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.
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.”
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.”
