An Israeli airstrike hit a hospital in southern Gaza on Sunday night, leaving a part of the hospital in flames and causing multiple casualties, two doctors working at Nasser Medical Complex told CNN, as the country pressed a renewed offensive in the embattled enclave.
The Israeli military confirmed it carried out a strike on a “key terrorist in the Hamas terrorist organization who was operating inside” the hospital but did not share the target’s identity.
Hamas-affiliated Al-Aqsa TV reported that Ismail Barhoum, a member of Hamas’ political bureau, and his nephew Ibrahim were killed in the strike on Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis.
Barhoum was receiving medical treatment for injuries sustained during an Israeli strike on March 18, according to Al-Aqsa TV. Hamas later confirmed Barhoum’s death which it said illustrates Israel’s “disregard for all international norms and agreements.”
Hospitals are entitled to special protections during armed conflict under international humanitarian law and can only be targeted under extremely limited circumstances, such as if they are being used to actively commit “an act harmful to the enemy,” according to the Geneva Conventions.
The strike comes after Israeli operations intensified in southern Gaza, with the military saying earlier on Sunday that it had encircled an entire district and ordered evacuations.
The Israeli military resumed air and ground operations in Gaza earlier this week, blamed on Hamas for refusing to agree to revised terms on extending the first phase of the ceasefire. Gaza health officials meanwhile said the toll from the fighting since October 7 has passed 50,000.
