Within the early hours of Thursday, Dr Rizq Abu Shuaira was on obligation within the surgical procedure division of the Nasser Medical Advanced in southern Gaza. An Israeli strike hit the hospital, killing at the very least six individuals, together with Abu Shuaira and a toddler.
Zaher al-Waheidi, spokesperson for the Ministry of Well being in Gaza, on Thursday referred to as it “a horrific crime”, including that Israel focused the surgical procedure division. He referred to as Abu Shuaira’s killing a loss to the medical occupation within the enclave that’s struggling to deal with the large-scale destruction of well being amenities since Israel launched its genocidal conflict on Gaza on October 7, 2023.
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“The world woke as much as the crime of focusing on the Nasser Medical Advanced,” al-Waheidi stated, including that Abu Shuaira was “martyred whereas on obligation offering providers to sufferers”.
“He didn’t deserve to satisfy his demise whereas among the many sufferers within the hospital corridors,” he stated.
Israel has repeatedly focused Gaza’s medical personnel and hospitals previously three years, killing at the very least 1,725 medical employees. Of the enclave’s 37 hospitals, 20 are partially functioning whereas 17 others have been rendered nonoperational. Well being authorities say 44 % of important medicines are out of inventory as Israel has continued to dam the availability of medicines into the enclave of two.3 million individuals.
Al Jazeera’s correspondent in Gaza stated it was the seventh assault on the hospital, which serves at the very least 500,000 individuals in southern Gaza.
“In fact, this focusing on led to widespread destruction contained in the surgical procedure departments and working rooms, and led to main harm within the outpatient clinics, the radiology division and the laboratory division,” al-Waheidi instructed Al Jazeera.
Ruined hospital panorama
The Gaza Authorities Media Workplace stated that it holds Israel and america instantly answerable for the strike on the hospital, noting that the victims included a 13-year-old baby.
The media workplace has documented 793 Israeli assaults on healthcare providers. A complete report revealed final month by Insecurity Insight on ReliefWeb revealed that at the very least 3,508 assaults on healthcare throughout the occupied Palestinian territory had been reported between October 2023 and September 2026. An awesome 95 % of all incidents had been attributed to Israeli forces.
In Gaza throughout that interval, 399 well being employees had been detained, together with Dr Husam Abu Safia, the director of Kamal Adwan Hospital, who has spent greater than 500 days in Israeli custody.
“The Israeli occupation didn’t and won’t cease focusing on the well being system,” al-Waheidi stated.
Regardless of the so-called ceasefire signed between Hamas and Israel in October 2025, the Israeli assaults haven’t stopped in Gaza.
Expanded assaults within the West Financial institution
Israel has additionally been accused of increasing its assaults on medical infrastructure within the occupied West Financial institution. A World Well being Group report (PDF) protecting hostilities from January to August 2026 documented 124 distinct assaults on healthcare within the territory. The WHO information confirmed 4 deaths and 40 accidents.
A subsequent month-to-month report issued by the Unbiased Palestinian Docs Affiliation (IPDA) in October 2026 painted a harrowing image of escalating area violence. Throughout October 2026 alone, the IPDA documented 23 violations towards the healthcare system within the West Financial institution. Particular flashpoints highlighted within the report included Salfit Authorities Hospital, which was stormed by Israeli forces twice on October 14 to confiscate surveillance digital camera recordings, whereas a close-by ambulance centre was additionally violently raided.
Eid Dwaikat, media director of the Palestinian Purple Crescent Society, shared with Al Jazeera the suffocating operational surroundings. “The work of the Purple Crescent groups is in a extremely harmful and sophisticated area surroundings, amid the continuation of the siege, closure, and restrictions imposed on motion and entry to the affected areas, which constitutes a direct menace to the protection of paramedics,” Dwaikat stated.
The human value of those delays is measured in lives misplaced. “Stopping groups from reaching the injured and detaining them displays instantly on delaying the availability of life-saving first support … which multiplies the chance of loss of life or the exacerbation of important accidents resulting from not receiving medical care in a well timed method,” he added.
Detained medical employees
The disaster has been vastly exacerbated by the systemic imprisonment of Gaza’s docs. Physicians for Human Rights Israel (PHRI) has highlighted the plight of 14 detained Palestinian docs, together with hospital administrators and specialised surgeons held with out formal fees.
“Holding docs for almost two years below what is named the ‘Illegal Combatants Legislation’ with out urgent any cost and with out trial … in fact is inaccurate,” al-Waheidi, the Gaza Well being Ministry spokesperson, stated.
“If the Israeli authorities have any proof, they need to current it in a good public trial. However detention with out cost and refusing unbiased medical examination below safety pretexts is an arbitrary deprivation.”
Abu Safia, the director of Kamal Adwan Hospital, was detained in 2024, and his case has turn into emblematic of the systemic abuse inside Israeli detention amenities.
On Wednesday, the PHRI stated it obtained an unbiased medical evaluation of Abu Safia’s data displaying a weight lack of 14kg (31lb) in 4 months, a major drop in haemoglobin ranges and chest ache. On Wednesday, the Israeli Supreme Court docket dismissed a petition looking for his launch and refused to permit an unbiased doctor to look at him.
![Dr Hussam Abu Safia is seen on a video call from prison during an Israeli Supreme Court hearing of an appeal by his lawyers to end his detention, in Jerusalem, on June 10, 2026 [Physicians for Human Rights Israel via AP]](https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/ap_6a4aaec89d929-1783279304-1-1788435078.jpg?w=770&resize=770%2C513&quality=80)
“Particularly, now we have documented and heard instantly from the lawyer who visited Dr Husam Abu Safia, the director of Kamal Adwan Hospital: extreme beatings, lack of consciousness, and a sense by Dr Abu Safia that if this continues unchecked, his life is at risk,” Tirza Leibowitz, government director of PHRI, instructed Al Jazeera.
“The torture and abuse have risen to such a stage that we draw conclusions about this being a coverage that has been carried out by the Israeli Jail Service towards Palestinian detainees,” she stated.
Leibowitz identified the plight of some 10,000 Palestinians held in Israeli detention below numerous classes. “The state of affairs is appalling, each by way of the situations within the prisons and the violence and each day abuses that they’re struggling,” she stated.
A household’s agony
For the household of Abu Safia, the continued incarceration has been insufferable. Elias Abu Safia, his son, described the immense psychological toll of the extended separation.
“Sadly, we haven’t spoken with my father for the previous 685 days. We solely learn about our father by the lawyer,” Elias instructed Al Jazeera. “We dream of being in contact with my father, to have a direct telephone name with him. Nevertheless, Israel is depriving us of getting a direct dialog with my father.”
“The knowledge that we’re receiving in regards to the well being situations of my father and the way he’s being arrested could be very regarding. He doesn’t should be handled that manner inside or inside the Israeli prisons,” Elias stated.
