Israeli airstrike on Gaza hospital kills 6 people, Hamas-run health ministry says

LONDON -- An overnight Israeli airstrike targeting the Nasser Hospital complex in the southern Gaza Strip killed at least six people -- including a surgeon -- and wounded dozens of others, according to the hospital and Gaza's Hamas-run Ministry of Health.

The Israel Defense Forces said in a statement that it carried out the strike in the city of Khan Younis early on Thursday, targeting an alleged Hamas commander and other militants who it said were hiding inside the hospital. The IDF did not provide any evidence for its assertion.

The Israeli military alleged that Hamas had "established a presence within the hospital complex" and was using it as "a command center for military and terrorist activities." Hamas, a terrorist organization, rejected the claims in a statement, calling the attack a "war crime."

The Hamas-run Ministry of Health said in a statement that the pre-dawn strike hit the second floor of the surgical wing at the Nasser Hospital complex. The building is one of the hospital's primary facilities, housing the surgery department and the intensive care unit. The facility is now out of service, the hospital announced in a statement.

According to health officials in Gaza, Nasser Hospital is the only major medical facility still functioning in the southern part of the strip and is one of the last functioning in all of Gaza, where health care infrastructure has been devastated by the war.

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Thursday's attack was the seventh time that the Israeli military has struck the Nasser Hospital complex since the war in Gaza began on Oct. 7, 2023, following Hamas' surprise attack into southern Israel, health officials in Gaza said.

Around 1,200 people were killed in Israel by Hamas' attack on Oct. 7, 2023. As of Wednesday, Israel's subsequent military operation in Gaza had killed at least 74,653 people and wounded at least 176,007 others, according to statistics from Gaza's Ministry of Health.

ABC News' Nasser Atta, Dorit Long, Diaa Ostaz and Samy Zyara contributed to this report.