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The U.N. human rights office called for an end to Israeli attacks on hospitals in Gaza after a Nov. 11 strike on Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis killed six Palestinians, including a child and a surgeon, and wounded about 30 others.
The Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights in Palestine said the strike hit the building housing Nasser Hospital’s operating rooms and described it as part of a broader pattern of attacks on Gaza’s health facilities.
According to initial information cited by the office, three missiles were used in the attack, but only one exploded. The unexploded munitions remain an additional danger to patients, medical workers and civilians, it said.
The U.N. office said years of Israeli bombardment had pushed Gaza’s health system close to collapse, while Nasser Hospital remains one of the few facilities still operating in the area.
It recalled that Nasser Hospital was also hit in August 2025, when three Israeli airstrikes killed 22 Palestinians, including five journalists.
The office also referred to a 2024 U.N. report on repeated Israeli attacks on hospitals in Gaza, noting that most of the territory’s hospitals had already been destroyed by that point.
It said Israel had not provided enough information to independently verify claims that hospitals, ambulances and medical workers had lost their protected status and become military targets.
“Direct attacks against hospitals, health workers, patients and the wounded constitute war crimes,” the U.N. human rights office said, stressing that medical facilities and those inside them are protected under international law.
Munir al-Bursh, director general of Gaza’s Health Ministry, said the Israeli military had targeted Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis seven times since 2023.
He criticized what he described as the international community’s failure to protect medical facilities, saying: “The world is incapable of protecting a hospital bed.”
Gaza’s health system continues to operate under severe conditions due to repeated Israeli attacks, shortages of medicines and medical supplies, and restrictions on humanitarian aid.
According to an April statement by the World Health Organization (WHO), more than 1,800 health facilities in Gaza, including hospitals, primary care centers, clinics, pharmacies and laboratories, have been destroyed or damaged in Israeli attacks.
WHO representative for the Palestinian territories Reinhold van de Weerdt said rebuilding and rehabilitating Gaza’s health system would require about $10 billion over five years.
Gaza’s health sector continues to face shortages of medicines and medical supplies despite the ceasefire declared on Oct. 10, 2025, due to continued Israeli attacks and restrictions on aid deliveries.
According to the latest figures from Gaza’s Health Ministry, 1,622 Palestinians have been killed and 5,878 injured in Israeli violations since the ceasefire took effect.
Since October 2023, Israeli attacks on Gaza have killed more than 74,000 Palestinians and wounded more than 175,000, according to the ministry.
The attacks have also destroyed about 90% of Gaza’s infrastructure.
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