Israeli fire killed 10 people in Gaza on Thursday, six of whom died in the bombing of Nasser hospital in south Gaza early in the day, health officials said, the deadliest single strike since Israel's elections last month.

The Israeli military confirmed the attack on the medical complex, saying they targeted "a senior Hamas terrorist and additional terrorists from Hamas's military wing" who it said were operating from the hospital, which it has long accused the Palestinian Islamist movement of using to shelter militants.

Hamas has denied this, and both parties frequently accuse each other of violating the terms of a US-backed ceasefire agreement that took effect in October 2025.

Nasser Hospital, located in Khan Younis, confirmed the six deaths in a statement, while a doctor there said that nearly 30 were wounded.

Goher Rahbour, a British surgeon volunteering at the Hospital, said that Palestinian doctor Rizeq Abu Sheikh, with whom he had conducted a surgery on Wednesday evening, was among those killed in the strike on Thursday.

"I was on my phone just doing a bit of reading and the strike occurred just after midnight. It was very loud, very quick. The building shook, there was a lot of smoke that came up," Rahbour said.

Gaza's civil defence agency said the bodies from the strike had been recovered from the targeted building, which a medical source said was the surgery ward of Nasser Hospital, a sprawling medical complex in the southern city of Khan Younis.

The rescue agency reported four more deaths on Thursday. One person was killed by "Israeli gunfire" near the al-Bureij camp and another in an "Israeli drone strike" targeting a vehicle near Deir al-Balah, both in central Gaza.

Two more people were killed in an Israeli strike on a vehicle near Gaza City's al-Shifa hospital, bringing Thursday's total death toll to 10.

Israel's military said it struck a militant in Deir al-Balah and another in Gaza City, but denied that the second strike took place near al-Shifa Hospital.

Israel is currently led by a caretaker government under Benjamin Netanyahu following an inconclusive election, with opposition bloc head Gadi Eisenkot officially tasked with forming a new administration.

Netanyahu, who has held power on-and-off for nearly 20 years and has led Israel throughout the war in Gaza, has played up security threats to the country throughout the election period and called for a unity government.

More than 1,600 Palestinians have been killed since the start of the ceasefire, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health, which operates under Hamas authority and whose figures are considered reliable by the United Nations.

During the same period, the Israeli military has reported the loss of seven soldiers, as well as one civilian contractor. (AFP)



Edited by Cecil Wong