6 martyrs, including a surgeon, killed in Israeli airstrike on Gaza hospital

Medics said an Israeli airstrike on the main hospital in southern Gaza Strip overnight killed at least six Palestinians, including a surgeon and a teenager, in the latest Israeli attack undermining the ceasefire declared nearly a year ago in the war-devastated territory.

Medics and witnesses said two missiles pierced the roof of the five-story building, causing severe damage. The surgery department, which serves about half of Gaza’s two million residents, was taken out of service. Twenty others were also injured.

Ayman Abu Ayyad, a doctor injured in the attack, said he was on a night shift at the hospital when an explosion rocked the room where he and others were sleeping.

From his hospital bed, he said, “The world turned upside down all at once. It turned dark all at once; it was very terrifying.” Nearby, piles of broken furniture and medical equipment were covered in dust from scattered concrete, and torn wires hung from the ceiling.

Among the dead was Rizaq Abu Sha’ira, a surgeon who appeared in a 2026 documentary titled “American Doctor,” working alongside three visiting American doctors who help provide medical care to Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

Gaza’s Ministry of Education said a 13-year-old boy was among the martyrs.

Three other Palestinians were also killed in separate incidents later in the day.

Medics said two people were killed and others injured in an Israeli airstrike targeting a car in Gaza City, and a third was killed by Israeli fire in the Al-Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza, bringing the day’s death toll to at least nine.

A nine-month-old infant died from cold in a tent housing his displaced family in Khan Younis in southern Gaza, according to two Palestinian sources, amid growing concerns as winter approaches.

Mahmoud Bassal, spokesperson for Gaza’s Civil Defense, confirmed to AFP that the child died after being exposed to “bitter cold.”

Heavy rains over the past week washed away tens of thousands of tents housing displaced persons in the Strip, and five people, including three children, died after a sandslide collapsed on their tents.

Since then, hundreds of displaced families have been seen fleeing rain-flooded camps in parts of Gaza City, central Gaza, and northern Gaza.

James Elder, spokesperson for the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), said in Geneva on Tuesday, “Winter will arrive in a few weeks, and we are already witnessing unprecedented rain and cold.”

The organization had warned that “families, exhausted by the war and the ongoing crisis, are preparing to face a fourth winter under extremely fragile conditions.”

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported that 26,000 households were affected by flooding as of November 8, noting that about 65 percent of Gaza’s population still lives in tents or other temporary shelters.

Israel continues its assault on Gaza despite a ceasefire agreement that entered into force on October 10, 2025.

In a rare criticism, the “Peace Council” established by US President Donald Trump called on Israel to take immediate action to help the war-devastated territory face winter and flooding, accusing it of not taking sufficient steps.

The council said in a statement on Monday that “the issue is no longer just about an imminent threat with winter approaching, but has become an urgent humanitarian emergency.”

It added that it had previously warned Israel, which controls all entry points into the Strip, to prepare for winter and seasonal flooding.