Palestine: MSF condemns Israel’s double strike on Nasser hospital
At least 50 people were injured, and 20 others were killed during the attack including journalists, rescuers, and medical staff.
Jerome Grimaud, MSF emergency coordinator in Gaza, condemns the double Israeli strike on Nasser Hospital in Khan Younès, in the south of the Gaza Strip.
“We denounce in the strongest possible terms Israel’s horrendous attacks on the Nasser medical complex today – the only partially functioning public hospital in the south of Gaza. Israeli forces killed at least 20 people and injured 50 more in consecutive strikes, including healthcare workers, rescuers and journalists. Among them was Mariam Abu Dagga, a freelance photographer who frequently worked with Doctors Without Borders/ Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF). We are heartbroken by her death. Mariam leaves behind a son who must now grow up without his mother. At least four other journalists were also killed today.
Some MSF staff members were forced to shelter in the laboratory as Israel repeatedly struck the building amidst rescue efforts. We are outraged as the Israeli forces continue to attack healthcare workers and journalists with impunity.
These images of MSF’s support at Nasser Hospital were taken for MSF by Mariam Abu Dagga, who was killed in Israel’s August 25, 2025, strike of the hospital. Palestine, 2024. © Mariam Abu Dagga/MSF
For the past 22 months, we have watched as healthcare facilities have been levelled, journalists silenced, and healthcare workers buried beneath the rubble by the Israeli forces. As Israel continues to shun international law, the only witnesses of their genocidal campaign are deliberately being targeted. It must stop now.”
Testimony from Ramiro García, project medical referent, Nasser hospital
About 20 of us from Doctors Without Borders/ Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) work in the building of Nasser Hospital, where the pediatrics and maternity wards are.
It’s normal for us to hear explosions every day while we are working.
But on the morning of Aug. 25, I suddenly heard one that was much, much louder than usual. At first, I thought it was a missile that had hit near the hospital.
Many people rushed to the windows. I tried to look out and saw a large cloud of smoke coming from the main building.
At that moment, it seemed like it could have been inside the hospital, but I couldn’t wrap my head around it. I asked someone. They told me it was inside, and even then, I couldn’t believe it. I had to ask a second person, who confirmed that it had been in the building right next to us. I said, “They’ve bombed the hospital!” I immediately ran to a safe area.
A lot of people were starting to gather in front of the hospital.
Suddenly, I saw another impact on the facade and more smoke. I thought, “What a massacre by the Israeli military!”
After the second impact, you could see many people running, nervous, screaming. It was a very chaotic and tense moment.
It was very shocking for me: with the first impact, I realized that they had bombed the main hospital building, and with the second, I imagined how many dead and wounded there could be.
We left the hospital with the feeling that no one is safe. Whether you are a patient or a medical worker, there is total impunity for bombing a hospital.
It was very hard. I knew that the hospital had been bombed a couple of times in the past, but it’s one thing to read about it in reports and quite another to see it live and think about the number of victims and wounded after those two bombings.
You think about the senselessness of what is happening here in Gaza. Nothing is respected. It is very difficult for me to work knowing that at any moment they can bomb the hospital and nothing will happen. Nothing will change. It is something they can do without any problem.
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