Israel says strike at Nasser Hospital hit Hamas Khan Younis Brigade commander

Israel's military and its domestic security service carried out an overnight strike on Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, aimed at a senior Hamas commander, according to a joint announcement from the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and the Israel Security Agency (ISA). The statement named the target as Muhammad Abu Ismail and described him as commander of Hamas's Khan Younis Brigade, saying other militants sheltering in the hospital were also targeted.

The IDF said Abu Ismail oversaw the brigade's fighters, directed attacks on Israeli civilians and soldiers, and was responsible for keeping numerous hostages in captivity during the war. A day later, the Hebrew-language Telegram channel Abu Ali Express reported that the number of people killed in the hospital strike had risen to 7, after a man it named as Muhammad al-Jazzar died of his wounds.

Who the military says was targeted

In its first statement the IDF called the strike precise and identified Abu Ismail as the brigade's commander. In a later posting, the IDF spokesperson described him somewhat differently, as a central figure in running the brigade's command, particularly since the killing of the brigade's previous commander, Muhammad Yazouri, in early September. The two descriptions are not identical: one presents Abu Ismail as the formal commander, the other as a leading figure who stepped into a gap left by Yazouri's death.

The ISA, often known by its Hebrew acronym Shabak or as the Shin Bet, is Israel's internal security and counterintelligence agency. Joint announcements with the IDF are typically issued when the agency has supplied intelligence for a targeted strike.

Khan Younis is the main city of the southern Gaza Strip, and Nasser Hospital is one of the largest medical facilities in that part of the territory. Hamas organises its armed wing into regional brigades, and the Khan Younis Brigade is the formation responsible for that area.

Israel's claims about the hospital

The IDF said Hamas had turned the hospital complex into a headquarters. In a post on X, the military said the hospital's second floor functions as a Hamas military command centre that civilians are barred from entering and that is used by Hamas commanders, Abu Ismail among them.

The same post said dozens of hostages had been held at Nasser Hospital during the war and that Abu Ismail was responsible for holding many of them. It named four: Nimrod Cohen, Matan Zangauker, Edan Alexander and Avera Mengistu. The IDF spokesperson's later statement said Abu Ismail had been involved in holding hostages in Hamas captivity, including inside the same hospital where he was struck.

These are claims made by the Israeli military. None of the reports available to us include a response from Hamas, from hospital staff or from Gaza health authorities, and the material does not include independent confirmation of how the building was being used.

Wider picture in Gaza

Abu Ali Express, an Israeli Telegram channel that tracks Arabic-language reporting from Gaza and the wider region, framed the hospital strike as part of what it called an escalation in Israeli strikes in the territory. It reported that two Gazans, whom it named as Ahmad al-Houli and Ramzi Abu Tim, were killed around midnight in a strike on a tent in the Mawasi area of Khan Younis. The channel also said more than 20 people had been killed in targeted IDF strikes across the Gaza Strip over the preceding two days.

The IDF statements in the material do not address the tent strike or the wider casualty figure, and the channel does not say where its numbers come from.

What the reports do not say

• None of the IDF statements say whether Abu Ismail was killed; they describe him only as struck or targeted, and the Abu Ali Express account of the dead does not name him.
• The IDF has not given a number or identities for the other militants it says were in the hospital.
• The reports do not say whether patients or medical staff were among the casualties, or what damage the hospital sustained.
• No response from Hamas or from Gaza health officials appears in the material.
• The difference between the IDF's two descriptions of Abu Ismail's rank has not been explained.