Gaza hospital director killed in Israeli strike, Hamas-run health ministry says

The director of Gaza’s Indonesian Hospital has been killed in an Israeli air strike on his home in Gaza City along with several family members, the Hamas-run health ministry has said.

The ministry said Dr Marwan Sultan had a long career in medicine, and condemned “this heinous crime against our medical cadres”.

The Israeli military said it had struck a “key terrorist” from Hamas in the Gaza City area and that claims “uninvolved civilians” were harmed as a result of the strike were being reviewed.

Meanwhile, at least five people were killed and others injured, including children, in a strike on the al-Mawasi “safe zone”, one of several other attacks reported by news agencies.

The health ministry said Dr Sultan’s career was one of compassion “during which he was a symbol of dedication, steadfastness and sincerity, during the most difficult circumstances and most trying moments experienced by our people under continuous aggression”.

Dr Sultan was the director at the Indonesian Hospital, declared out of service by the health ministry after what the UN later described as “repeated Israeli attacks and sustained structural damage”. The Israeli military had said it was fighting “terrorist infrastructure sites” in the area.

There are now no functioning hospitals in the north Gaza governate, according to the UN.

The health ministry accused the Israeli military of targeting medical and humanitarian teams.

In its statement, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it “regrets any harm to uninvolved individuals” and “operates to mitigate harm to them as much as possible”.

The IDF said Hamas “systematically violates international law while using civilian infrastructure for terrorist activity and the civilian population as human shields”.

Across Gaza, at least 139 people were killed by Israeli military operations in the 24 hours before midday on Wednesday, the health ministry said.

In the al-Mawasi area of Khan Younis, at least five people were killed and others, including children, wounded in a strike that hit a tent housing displaced people, news agencies reported.

Family members of those killed said it hit at 00:40 local time (22:40 BST) while they were sleeping.

Tamam Abu Rizq told AFP the strike “shook the place like an earthquake”, and she “went outside and found the tent on fire”.

The al-Mawasi area was declared a “safe zone” by the Israeli military, as the UN says 80% of Gaza is either an Israeli military zone or under an evacuation order.

“They came here thinking it was a safe area and they were killed… What did they do?” Maha Abu Rizq said.

At the scene, surrounded by destruction and a jumble of personal items, one man held up a pack of nappies and asked: “Is this a weapon?”

Children were also wounded in the strike.

Footage recorded by AFP shows men alighting from a car in front of nearby Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis and rushing inside carrying blood-covered children in their arms. Inside the hospital, young children cry as doctors treat their wounds.

Women weep over the bodies of their relatives in funerals at the hospital in other AFP footage.

“Anyone of any religion must take action and say: Enough! Stop this war!” Ekram al-Akhras, who lost several cousins in one of the strikes, said.

In Gaza City, another four people from the same family were killed in an Israeli air strike on a house, news agencies reported.

The four people killed were Ahmed Ayyad Zeno, his wife Ayat Zeno, and their daughters, Zahra Zeno and Obaida Zeno, according to Palestinian news outlet WAFA.

The BBC has contacted the IDF for comment about the two incidents.

Rachel Cummings, who is working in Gaza with Save the Children, told reporters that during “wishing circles” at the charity’s child-friendly spaces, children have recently been “wishing to die” in order to be with their mother or father who has been killed, or to have food and water.

As a heatwave spread across the UK and Europe this week, temperatures also topped 30C in Gaza.

Displaced people living in tents said they were struggling to stay cool without electricity and fans, and with little access to water.

Reda Abu Hadayed told the Associated Press the heat is “indescribable” and her children cannot sleep.

“They cry all day until sunset, when the temperature drops a little, then they go to sleep,” she said. “When morning comes, they start crying again due to the heat.”

Israel has continued to bomb Gaza and control the entry and distribution of humanitarian aid as mediators meet to negotiate a potential ceasefire proposal.

Hamas attacked Israel on 7 October 2023, killing around 1,200 people and taking 251 back to Gaza as hostages.

Since then, Israel’s military offensive in Gaza has killed more than 57,000 people, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry.