{"id":863212,"date":"2025-07-18T00:13:07","date_gmt":"2025-07-18T05:13:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/07\/18\/crushed-by-israeli-missile-strikes-gazas-hospitals-are-barely-functioning\/"},"modified":"2025-07-18T00:13:07","modified_gmt":"2025-07-18T05:13:07","slug":"crushed-by-israeli-missile-strikes-gazas-hospitals-are-barely-functioning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/07\/18\/crushed-by-israeli-missile-strikes-gazas-hospitals-are-barely-functioning\/","title":{"rendered":"Crushed by Israeli missile strikes, Gaza’s hospitals are barely functioning"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Israeli military assaults on the Gaza Strip\u2019s hospitals<\/a> have ramped up in recent weeks to the highest level so far this year, bringing a health system already weakened by 19 months of war<\/a> to a breaking point. NBC News has analyzed 27 <\/strong>videos and images from the last two months taken by civilians and our own journalists on the ground to piece together a picture of the full extent of the destruction of a health system engulfed in war. <\/p>\n

In footage from a surveillance camera, men, women and children could be seen crossing the entrance to Khan Younis\u2019 European Hospital moments before a missile hit<\/a>, blasting people into the air as others scattered in panic. Another video, posted to social media and verified by NBC News, showed the fiery aftermath of an explosion at a medical warehouse near Al-Awda Hospital<\/a>, in northern Gaza, which has been attacked repeatedly, including on May 22 and again on May 24. <\/p>\n

\"A<\/picture>
A man holds a wounded child at Al-Awda Hospital in May.<\/span>Eyad Baba \/ AFP – Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cNearly all hospitals in Gaza are now damaged or destroyed<\/a>, and half of them are no longer operational,\u201d Jens Laerke, spokesperson for the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, or OCHA, told NBC News. During the war, Gaza\u2019s hospitals have eked back services, only to be repeatedly struck<\/a> or besieged again<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Hospitals are protected under international humanitarian law<\/a>, but <\/strong>Israel has maintained that Hamas uses hospitals and medical centers for military activities, opening them to attack. Hamas has denied doing so. Humanitarian groups, including the United Nations, have <\/strong>said Israel has not provided sufficient information to substantiate many of its claims and have called for independent investigations of Israel\u2019s attacks and Hamas\u2019 alleged misuse of the facilities<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Earlier this week, however, the Israeli military gave a small group of reporters a tour of a tunnel that was uncovered beneath the European Hospital<\/a>, where it said it had recovered the body of Hamas\u2019 military chief Mohammed Sinwar<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe cannot stress this enough: Hospitals must never be militarized or targeted. If they are, it may constitute a war crime,\u201d Laerke said.<\/p>\n

Of Gaza\u2019s 36 hospitals, none are fully functioning; 17 are providing partial services, and 19 are not functioning at all<\/a>, according to World Health Organization data<\/a> from <\/strong>Monday. The wider health system, including ambulances, field hospitals and clinics, has been attacked more than 700 times since the start of the war, killing at least 900 people and injuring more than 1,000. (The death toll across Gaza is more than 55,000, according to the health ministry.) <\/p>\n

After a ceasefire was called in January, Israeli military attacks on Gaza\u2019s health system had abated. The truce fell apart in March<\/a>, and WHO data shows a ramping up of attacks in recent weeks. While the organization tallied five attacks on Gaza\u2019s health system in April, after the first three weeks of May, the number of attacks had quadrupled to 21, with at least three more attacks since, including on the vicinity of a dialysis center at the Indonesian Hospital on June 1 and strikes on Al-Aqsa <\/a>and Al-Ahli Hospitals<\/a> on June 4 and 5. In addition, hostilities near Al-Amal Hospital have rendered it \u201cout of service,\u201d the WHO said Monday. <\/p>\n

The earliest attack recorded by NBC News during that two-month period was on April 2, when an Israeli airstrike hit a UNRWA clinic in Jabalia, north of Gaza City, that was housing displaced people. Video captured by NBC News on the ground documented the chaotic aftermath: walls crushed to rubble, charred mattresses, furniture blasted into shards. A child\u2019s small, shrouded body was loaded onto a donkey cart to be taken to the morgue. <\/p>\n

In another case, the Israel Defense Forces struck two hospitals on the same day, May 13, both in Khan Younis. Video verified by NBC News shows several large plumes of smoke rising from the grounds of the European Hospital. Palestinian health officials said at least 16 people were killed and dozens more injured. The WHO said the facility had been forced to suspend services.<\/p>\n

\"Footage<\/picture>
Footage shows Israeli strikes on the European Hospital in Khan Younis, southern Gaza, on May 13.<\/span>Obtained by NBC News<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Also struck that day was the Nasser Medical Complex<\/a>. Video posted by the U.N. showed scattered debris, twisted hospital beds and damaged equipment. It was the fourth time Nasser had been hit during the war<\/a>, according to the U.N., with the latest strike killing two people and injuring a dozen others. <\/p>\n

In a statement in response to those attacks, the IDF said its forces had targeted a command and control center located at Nasser Hospital and \u201ca Hamas underground terrorist infrastructure site\u201d underneath the European Hospital.<\/p>\n

The IDF provided evidence of what it said was a Hamas tunnel beneath the European Hospital. It did not, however, provide evidence for the command and control center at Nasser, or for the following cases, but broadly said: \u201cThe Hamas terrorist organization continues to use hospitals in the Gaza Strip for terrorist activity.\u201d NBC News is not able to independently verify the IDF\u2019s statements.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Israeli military assaults on the Gaza Strip\u2019s hospitals have ramped up in recent weeks to the highest level so far this year, bringing a health system already weakened by 19 months of war to a breaking point. NBC News has analyzed 27 videos and images from the last two months taken by civilians and our<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":863213,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25953,166],"tags":[17915,6379],"class_list":{"0":"post-863212","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-crushed","8":"category-israeli","9":"tag-crushed","10":"tag-israeli"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/863212","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=863212"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/863212\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/863213"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=863212"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=863212"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=863212"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}