Gaza Herald- The Israeli army’s double-tap strike on the Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis on Monday highlights its blatant disregard for international humanitarian law and epitomizes the ongoing genocide in Gaza since October 2023.
At around 10:00 a.m. on August 25, Israeli warplanes struck the fourth floor of Building C (Emergency) at Nasser Medical Complex, killing Reuters cameraman Hussam al-Masri and at least one other civilian. Minutes later, as journalists documented the attack and civil defense crews searched for survivors, Israeli forces bombed the same site again, directly targeting rescue teams and reporters.
According to initial figures, the assault killed 20 people, including Dr. Mohammed al-Habibi and five journalists: Hussam al-Masri, a Reuters cameraman; Mohammed Salama, an Al Jazeera photographer; Mariam Abu Daqa, a journalist with The Independent Arabic and Associated Press; Moaz Abu Taha, a freelance journalist; and Ahmed Abu Aziz, a local journalist. Civil Defense firefighter Abdullah al-Shaer and other civilians were also among the dead. At least ten others, including journalists and civil defense personnel, were wounded.
Euro-Med Documents the Attack
Euro-Med Monitor’s field team reported observing an Israeli surveillance drone flying low over the hospital before the strike, confirming that the attack was deliberate, intelligence-led, and executed with precise knowledge of the site and its occupants.
This was not an isolated incident but part of Israel’s recurring use of double-tap strikes—a documented tactic intended to maximize civilian casualties while specifically targeting civil defense workers, paramedics, and journalists responding to the initial bombing. Such deliberate patterns convert rescue operations and media coverage into deadly traps, silencing witnesses, obstructing evidence gathering, and crippling relief efforts, even inside medical facilities that are explicitly protected under international law.
The attack amounts to a composite war crime and crime against humanity: striking a protected medical facility, killing a doctor and journalists in the line of duty, attacking patients during rescue attempts, and targeting civil defense personnel while performing their humanitarian mission. By destroying essential health services, silencing the press, and obstructing rescue efforts, Israel is deliberately dismantling the social and protective fabric of Palestinian life, actions that place this crime at the very core of genocide.
The international community’s silence on Israel’s atrocities has provided a shield of impunity, denying Palestinians protection and emboldening Israel to continue its systematic assault on hospitals, humanitarian workers, and journalists.
The UN General Assembly must urgently invoke Resolution 377 (V) “Uniting for Peace” to authorize and deploy an international peacekeeping force in Gaza. This is necessary to end the killing of civilians, secure access to humanitarian aid, protect medical facilities, and guarantee the safety of doctors, civil defense teams, and journalists. It is both a legal obligation and a moral imperative for the international community to intervene and protect more than two million Palestinians from ongoing genocide.
Israel’s deliberate targeting of doctors, civil defense workers, and journalists at Nasser Medical Complex is not only a grave violation of international law but a direct assault on the foundations of Palestinian society. By destroying its healers, silencing its truth-tellers, and killing those who rush to save lives, Israel seeks to erase Gaza’s very capacity to survive. Without urgent international intervention, this genocide will continue unchecked, deepening one of the darkest stains on modern human history.
