Israel raids Gaza’s Nasser Hospital again, shortly after withdrawing from it

Israeli forces raided Nasser Medical Complex, the biggest functioning hospital in Gaza, on Thursday shortly after withdrawing from it, the Palestinian enclave’s health ministry said.

The World Health Organization says the hospital in Khan Younis, Gaza’s second largest and crucial to the territory’s crippled health services, stopped working last week after a week-long Israeli siege followed by the raid.

Nasser Hospital is the latest health facility to become a theatre of war in the conflict between Israel and Hamas, now in its fifth month.

Israel says Hamas, the militant group that has run Gaza since 2007, uses hospitals for cover. Hamas denies this and says Israel’s allegations serve as a pretext to destroy the healthcare system.

The war was triggered by a Hamas attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7 in which 1,200 people were killed and 253 taken hostage, according to Israeli tallies.

Vowing to destroy Hamas, Israel has responded with an air and ground assault that according to Gaza’s authorities has killed more than 29,000 Palestinians and wounded more than 69,000. The war has displaced most of the enclave’s 2.3 million people and reduced much of it to rubble.