Israeli Strike on Gaza's Nasser Hospital Kills Six, Including Surgeon Rizk Abu Shaira

An Israeli airstrike on Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, southern Gaza, killed six people and wounded at least a dozen early Thursday, Gaza's Health Ministry said. The ministry said the strike hit the surgery department and that the dead included medical staff, patients and Dr. Rizk Abu Shaira, a Palestinian surgeon featured in the 2026 documentary "American Doctor." The Israeli military said it targeted a senior Hamas member, later named as Muhammad Abu Ismail, and other militants who it said had advanced attacks from the hospital. It offered no evidence and described the hospital as a Hamas command center. Hospital officials said the attack closed the emergency, surgery, radiology and laboratory departments. The strike came during a U.S.-backed ceasefire. Nasser is one of the few functioning medical facilities left in Gaza and has been hit before, including a 2025 strike that killed five journalists. The war began on Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas-led militants killed about 1,200 people in Israel and took 251 hostage; Israel's offensive has since killed more than 74,600 people.

Left-leaning CBS News and NBC News lead with the ministry's toll and the Israeli military's stated target. CBS notes the claim came without evidence and adds Israel's accusation that Hamas uses hospitals as cover. NBC highlights Abu Shaira and the distributor Watermelon Pictures' condemnation. Right-leaning Newsmax, in the headline and excerpt available, frames the strike as highlighting devastation to Gaza's healthcare system. That text carries no toll, Israeli claim or named victim. Both sides describe a strike on a major hospital and the strain on healthcare, but the left coverage gives more detail on casualties and competing accounts. The Intercept and Democracy Now! take a distinct angle. They feature American doctors Feroze Sidhwa and Thaer Ahmad, call the strike a U.S.-made weapon's attack, use the word genocide, and cite international law.