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Israeli strikes on hospitals in Gaza on Tuesday reportedly killed at least 18 people, after a brief pause in fighting which saw the release of 21-year-old Israeli-American Edan Alexander, who had been in Hamas captivity since the 7 October 2023 attack.
The strikes hit the European Hospital complex near Khan Younis and left large craters gouged into the ground and cracks in the courtyard outside the European Hospital complex, images from the AFP news agency show. A damaged bus was lodged in a hole in the road.
“Everyone inside the hospital – patients and wounded alike – was running in fear, some on crutches, others screaming for their children, while others were being dragged on beds,” Amro Tabash, a local photojournalist, told AFP.
Israeli media reported that the target of the strikes on the European Hospital complex was Hamas leader Mohammed Sinwar, brother of the group’s previous leader, Yahya Sinwar, who was killed in an Israeli operation in October 2024. Israel’s military said it hit a “Hamas command centre” beneath the hospital.
Hamas denies exploiting hospitals and civilian properties for military purposes
The other strike hit Gaza’s Nasser hospital, which the Israeli military said targeted “eliminated significant Hamas terrorists”, among them a well-known Palestinian journalist, Hassan Aslih. Gaza’s health ministry said one other person died in the Nasser hospital strike.
Israel had accused Aslih of participating in Hamas’s 7 October 2023 attacks. It has said Aslih documented and uploaded footage of “looting, arson and murder” during the Hamas-led incursion into Israel.
The release of 21-year-old Israeli-American Edan Alexander offered a brief pause in the fighting on Monday. But the strikes resumed amid fierce new criticism of Israel’s tactics in the war.
“In the very coming days, we are going in with full force to complete the operation,” Netanyahu was quoted as saying in a statement released on Tuesday.
On Monday, Netanyahu said his country’s operation in Gaza would be considered complete only when Hamas is destroyed.
“There will be no situation where we stop the war,” he said. “A temporary ceasefire might happen, but we are going all the way.”
UN relief chief Tom Fletcher called on the UN security council to take action “to prevent genocide” in Gaza as he gave a scathing account of Israel’s actions in the territory.
“Will you act – decisively – to prevent genocide and to ensure respect for international humanitarian law?” he said to UN ambassadors in New York.
Late on Tuesday, the Israeli military urged civilians in several parts of northern Gaza to evacuate after it intercepted “two projectiles” fired from the territory. The armed wing of Hamas ally Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for rocket fire into Israel, which has been rare in recent weeks.
Netanyahu credited Alexander’s release on Monday to a combination of “our military pressure and the political pressure exerted by President Trump.” This has been rejected by Hamas, which has said it engaged in direct talks with Washington on a ceasefire in Gaza.
Netanyahu thanked Trump for helping in the release and said he would be sending negotiators to Qatar on Tuesday to discuss remaining captives. Trump arrived in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday to start a Gulf tour that will also take him to Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.
Hamas’s 2023 attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official data.
Militants also abducted 251 people, of whom 57 are still being held in Gaza, including 34 declared dead by the Israeli army.
The Israeli offensive in retaliation for the attack has killed at least 52,908 people in Gaza, mostly civilians, according to data from the Hamas-run health ministry, which is considered reliable by the UN.
