Engineering Death: Israel's assault on Gaza's healthcare system

Violent airstrikes by Zionist regime warplanes on the premises of the European Gaza Hospital and surrounding areas in Khan Younis (southern Gaza) have rendered the hospital inoperable, leading to the martyrdom and injury of dozens of civilians.

These attacks, which followed shortly after the bombing of the Nasser Medical Complex, represent another facet of a systematic campaign to eliminate survival spaces and destroy the few remaining safe havens for Gaza’s population, within the broader framework of the ongoing genocide in the Gaza Strip.

These attacks do not merely target physical infrastructure or medical facilities; they appear designed to engineer a gradual death, pushing Gaza toward complete collapse by depriving civilians of even the most basic means of survival and stripping them of any chance at life. This is part of a deliberate strategy to eradicate the Palestinian existence in Gaza from its foundations.

On the evening of Tuesday, May 13, 2025, Zionist regime warplanes launched a series of sudden, unannounced, and intense airstrikes on the European Gaza Hospital, targeting the entrances to the emergency and reception departments, as well as areas around the hospital buildings, nearby roads, and adjacent lands. A large number of high-explosive missiles were used in these attacks.

The attacks resulted in the martyrdom of over 35 Palestinians, including families killed in their homes or on the streets. Dozens of others, including four journalists, were injured.

According to reports, Zionist forces deliberately targeted victims, preventing their rescue or evacuation by civil defense teams and injuring several others. The airstrikes continued until Wednesday morning, including an attack on a bulldozer operating in the hospital courtyard. The attacks further led to the martyrdom and injury of additional civilians, including a journalist covering the aftermath of the earlier bombing.

The hospital administration reported a sudden power outage and failure of oxygen systems, posing a serious threat to patients’ lives. Medical teams were unable to perform surgeries on those injured in the renewed attacks, forcing the transfer of patients to Nasser Hospital. The hospital’s operating rooms ceased functioning, and its buildings sustained severe structural damage.

The Zionist regime’s claims of underground resistance infrastructure in or around the hospital follow a pattern of unverified assertions used to justify attacks on medical facilities during the war; none of these claims have been proven.

These claims are part of a familiar tactic to justify war crimes. Similar narratives were used in previous attacks on the Al-Shifa Medical Complex in Gaza City and the Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis, where no military targets were found.

The bombing of the European Gaza Hospital occurred just hours after a deadly airstrike on the surgical unit of the Nasser Medical Complex earlier that day. In that attack, Hassan Abdul Fattah Aslih, an injured journalist, was martyred, and 12 other patients under treatment were wounded.

The attack on the Nasser Medical Complex violates multiple international laws, including targeting a medical facility fully protected under international humanitarian law and the assassination of an injured journalist who had previously survived an attack near the same hospital on April 7.

Zionist forces justified both attacks by claiming the journalist was a member of resistance groups and had participated in covering the events of October 7, 2023. No credible evidence supports these claims, and they are legally and ethically indefensible.

Journalistic work, including covering military operations, does not in itself constitute direct participation in hostilities and thus does not deprive journalists of the protections granted under Article 79 of the First Additional Protocol to the Geneva Conventions.

As such, targeting journalists is a violation of international law and may constitute a war crime.

The Zionist regime’s persistent claims of military use of hospitals reflect a pre-scripted narrative used to justify systematic killings and destruction.

However, these claims are discredited under scrutiny due to the lack of credible evidence. In a broader context, they reveal a deliberate policy of targeting civilian infrastructure, particularly hospitals, which have consistently been primary targets, without any legal justification and in direct violation of the protections afforded to medical facilities under international humanitarian law.

The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor reported: The attack on the European Gaza Hospital is unjustifiable under any circumstances. The widespread destruction caused by the Israeli army’s operations and the severe physical and psychological harm inflicted on patients, medical staff, and civilians sheltering in the facility clearly exceed any claimed military necessity, constituting a gross violation of international humanitarian law and an international crime that demands accountability and prosecution.

The continuous targeting of hospitals, which has led to the disablement of 36 medical facilities at various times, is part of a systematic campaign to dismantle the healthcare system in Gaza.

Zionist forces have recently attacked Al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza City, destroying a hospital that provided services to over 12,000 cancer patients, and have previously leveled hospitals in Rafah, northern Gaza, and central Gaza City.

The ongoing destruction of hospitals and healthcare infrastructure in Gaza constitutes war crimes and crimes against humanity. This reveals the systematic nature of the aggression, which appears aimed at eliminating the means of survival for civilians and the healthcare system, the last lifeline for Gaza’s civilian population.