The Ministry of Health of Gaza has informed that at least 15 people were killed in an airstrike by Israel on the fourth floor of Nasir, the largest hospital in Southern Gaza on Monday. Three journalists are also included in the dead. One of them was associated with journalist Al Jazeera and the other to Reuters.
According to the ministry, the attack was the so-called “double-tap attack”, in which the missile was fired first and then a few moments later when the relief teams reached the spot, the fourth destination was targeted from the second missile. The ministry says that the number of deaths increased due to this reason.
The Israeli army has not yet given any official response to the attack. However, many hospitals and health centers have been targeted earlier during the ongoing military campaign in Gaza. Israel says that in the attacks he targeted the terrorists who were planning or operating from within hospitals.
The Nasir Hospital at Khan Younis, Southern Gaza, has been under constant pressure since the beginning of the conflict. In this war, which lasted more than 22 months, the hospital has repeatedly suffered from raids and bombing. Despite the severe shortage of drugs, equipment and medical personnel, this hospital remains the only support for thousands of injured and sick people.
The Gaza Health Ministry reminded that three people were killed and ten were injured in an attack on Nasir Hospital in June this year. At that time the Israeli army claimed that it had targeted Hamas’s “command and control center” inside the hospital.
According to the latest statistics of the Ministry of Health, at least 62,686 people have died in Gaza till Sunday. The ministry does not distinguish between fighters and common citizens in its data, but it is estimated that there are about half of women and children among the dead. The United Nations and independent experts consider these data as the most reliable information ever, while Israel has been continuously dismissing them and has not made its own figures public.
These frequent attacks on Gaza have not only completely disturbed health services but also deepened the concern of the international community.