The violent aerial assaults carried out by Israeli warplanes on the grounds of the European Gaza Hospital and its surrounding areas in Khan Younis, southern Gaza, forced the hospital out of service and resulted in the deaths and injuries of dozens of civilians. These attacks came shortly after the bombing of the Nasser Medical Complex, representing yet another episode in a systematic campaign to eliminate spaces of survival and destroy what little remains of safe havens for Gaza’s population, within the broader framework of the ongoing genocide in the Strip.
These attacks are not merely aimed at physical infrastructure or health facilities alone. Rather, they appear designed to engineer slow death, pushing Gaza toward total collapse by depriving civilians of even the most basic means of survival—and stripping them of any chance at life. This is part of a deliberate strategy to uproot Palestinian existence in Gaza from its foundations.
On the evening of Tuesday, 13 May 2025, Israeli aircraft launched a sudden and unannounced series of intense airstrikes on the European Gaza Hospital, including the entrance to the emergency and reception departments, as well as areas around the hospital buildings, surrounding roads, and adjacent lands. A large number of high-explosive missiles were used.
The strikes killed more than 35 Palestinians, including entire families wiped out in their homes or on the streets. Dozens more were injured, including four journalists.
Israeli forces reportedly blocked civil defence teams from rescuing or evacuating victims by deliberately targeting them, injuring several. Airstrikes continued into Wednesday morning, including one on a bulldozer operating in the hospital’s courtyard. Further attacks killed and wounded more civilians, including a journalist who had been covering the aftermath of the earlier bombing.
The hospital administration announced a sudden shutdown of electricity and oxygen systems, posing a critical threat to the lives of patients. Medical teams were unable to perform surgeries on the wounded from the renewed attacks, forcing them to transfer patients to Nasser Hospital. The hospital’s operating theatres went out of service, and its buildings sustained serious structural damage.
Israeli claims of underground militant infrastructure in or around the hospital follow a pattern of unverified allegations used to justify attacks on medical facilities throughout the war—none of which have ever been substantiated.
These claims are part of a familiar tactic to justify war crimes. Similar narratives were used in previous attacks on Al-Shifa Medical Complex in Gaza City and Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis, where no military targets were found.
The bombing of the European Gaza Hospital came just hours after a deadly airstrike targeted the surgical unit of Nasser Medical Complex earlier that day. That attack killed injured journalist Hassan Abdel Fattah Asleeh (37), along with Narcotics Police Director Ahmed Al-Qudra, and wounded 12 other patients who were receiving treatment.
The attack on Nasser Medical Complex constitutes multiple violations of international law, including targeting a medical facility fully protected under international humanitarian law, and killing a wounded journalist who had already survived a prior attack near the same hospital on 7 April.
Israeli forces justified both attacks by alleging that the journalist belonged to an armed faction and had participated in covering the events of 7 October 2023—claims that have not been supported by any credible evidence and remain legally and ethically indefensible.
Media work, including coverage of military operations, does not in itself constitute direct participation in hostilities, and therefore does not strip journalists of the protection granted to them under Article 79 of Additional Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions. As such, targeting journalists constitutes a violation of international law and may amount to a war crime. Similarly, police officers not directly engaged in hostilities, including those in criminal investigation units, remain protected under international humanitarian law, making attacks on them unlawful and criminal under international legal standards.
Even if military objectives were present, which has yet to be proven, Israel remains legally bound under international law, particularly international humanitarian law, to uphold and implement the principles of humanity, distinction, military necessity, proportionality, and the duty to take all feasible precautions. This obligation is absolute and applies to every military operation, in both planning and execution. It includes the choice of attack method, weapons used, and operational conduct, all of which must seek to minimisecivilian harm and damage to the greatest extent possible.
Israel’s recurring claims of “military use” of hospitals reflect a pre-scripted narrative used to retroactively justify systematic killings and destruction. These allegations, however, collapse under scrutiny due to the complete lack of credible evidence. Viewed in a broader context, they reveal a deliberate policy of targeting civilian infrastructure, particularly hospitals, which have consistently been central targets, without any legal justification and in direct violation of the protections afforded to medical facilities under international humanitarian law.
The attack on the Gaza European Hospital cannot be justified under any circumstances. The extensive destruction caused by the Israeli military’s fire belt operation and the severe physical and psychological trauma inflicted on patients, medical staff, and civilians sheltering in the facility clearly exceed any alleged military necessity, constituting a grave breach of international humanitarian law and an international crime warranting accountability and prosecution.
The repeated targeting of hospitals, which has led to 36 medical facilities being rendered non-operational at various times, is part of a systematic campaign to dismantle the health system in Gaza.
In recent weeks, Israeli forces have attacked Al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza City, destroyed the Turkish-Palestinian Friendship Hospital in southern Gaza—which served over 12,000 cancer patients—and previously levelled hospitals in Rafah, northern Gaza, and central Gaza City.
The ongoing destruction of hospitals and health infrastructure in Gaza constitutes a war crime and a crime against humanity. It exposes the systematic nature of the aggression, which appears aimed at dismantling the means of civilian survival—chief among them, the health system, which remains the last lifeline for Gaza’s civilian population.
This escalation marks a dangerous phase in a systematic strategy to eliminate “last refuge” spaces—including hospitals where civilians, especially the sick and wounded, seek protection and care. These facilities, and the medical teams operating under catastrophic conditions, should be protected at all times. Attacks on hospitals sheltering critically ill patients are direct assaults on the right to life, and within the broader context, represent a continuing chapter in the genocide being perpetrated against the Palestinian people in Gaza.
Since the beginning of March, Israel has completely barred the entry of medicines, medical supplies, and fuel into the Gaza Strip, despite a severe shortage of these essentials and the escalating intensity of Israeli attacks, which continue to cause a rising number of casualties.
All states, individually and collectively, must assume their legal responsibilities and take urgent action, using all available means, to halt the ongoing crime of genocide in Gaza. Immediate and effective measures must be taken to protect Palestinian civilians, including medical facilities, health workers, the wounded, and the sick, and to put an end to the ongoing policy of collective extermination targeting Palestinians in the Strip.
The international community must also ensure that Israel complies with international law and the rulings of the International Court of Justice (ICJ), and that it is held accountable for its crimes against Palestinians. Furthermore, the international community must support the execution of arrest warrants issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) against the Israeli Prime Minister and Defence Minister, ensuring they are brought to justice without delay.
There must be serious economic, diplomatic, and military sanctions imposed on Israel in response to its systematic and grave violations of international law. These should include a full arms embargo, bans on dual-use goods, suspension of all political, financial, and military support, freezing the assets of officials involved in crimes against Palestinians, travel bans, and suspension of trade privileges and bilateral agreements that afford Israel economic advantages used to sustain its continued commission of international crimes.
The international community must also ensure that independent international and UN fact-finding missions are granted immediate access to Gaza to prevent the destruction of evidence related to crimes committed by Israel. This includes enabling access for the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel, as well as ICC investigative teams, to allow them to fulfil their mandate in gathering evidence and holding perpetrators accountable.
States and relevant entities must also pursueaccountability of countries complicit in or supportive of Israel’s crimes, most notably the United States, along with other governments that provide Israel with any form of assistance connected to these violations. This includes military, intelligence, political, legal, financial, and media support, as well as any contractual engagements that contribute to the continuation of these crimes.
The international community must immediately launch a comprehensive reconstruction process in the Gaza Strip, prioritising the repair and rebuilding of critical infrastructure, with particular urgency given to the devastated health sector. The provision of medicines, medical equipment, surgical and intensive care supplies, and power generators is now a humanitarian necessity that cannot be delayed, in light of the total collapse of the health system and the inability of hospitals to provide even the most basic care.
Finally, Israel must lift all restrictions on the entry of construction materials and humanitarian aid into Gaza, in accordance with its binding legal obligations under international humanitarian law. These cannot be made conditional upon political considerations, nor subject to Israeli approval—as Israel, as the occupying power, has no legitimate authority over the administration of the affairs of the Palestinian civilian population.
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