A snap shot of Palestinian medical workers carrying an injured Palestinian in an Israeli bombardment of Hamid Junction in Al-Shati' refugee camp, west of Gaza City. Photo courtesy of QUDS news.
In a statement on Saturday, the Palestinian resistance movement said the Israeli army was “destroying the remaining medical facilities in the Gaza Strip and targeting medical staff and their families,” citing the killing of five relatives of Dr Muhammad Abu Salmiya, director of Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, in an airstrike earlier in the day.
“This constitutes a terrorist bloody message directed at doctors to forcibly compel them to leave the city, as part of the genocidal policy that includes the destruction of the healthcare system,” the group said.
Hamas said more than 1,700 medical workers have been killed in Gaza since October 2023, with nearly 400 others still detained “under extremely harsh conditions.”
It described the attacks as “a full-fledged war crime and a crime against humanity, committed amid international silence and an unjustifiable failure to protect civilians and humanitarian workers.”
The recent Hamas appeal comes amid growing international condemnation of the Israeli air and ground assault on Gaza City to ethnically cleanse more than 1.2 million Palestinians from the north to the South of the strip.
Since the start of its assault on Gaza City in early September, the Israeli army has carried out hundreds of airstrikes, destroying tens of residential high-rises, and killing and wounding hundreds of Palestinians to force the civilian population to escape south.
In a statement on Thursday, Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, warned Tel Aviv: “We say to the enemy leadership that Gaza will not be easy prey for your army, and we are ready to send the lives of your soldiers to hell.”
Figures from the World Health Organization (WHO) show that Israel launched over 1,670 attacks on healthcare in the occupied Palestinian territory, including nearly 1,300 on facilities and transport between 7 October 2023 and 17 August 2025.
These Israeli attacks on the healthcare system have killed at least 995 Palestinians and injured over 2,000 others, sending most hospitals in the strip out of service.
WHO also reported that at least 301 healthcare workers were detained by the Israeli army in Gaza.
This week, the director of Gaza’s Nasser Children’s Hospital warned of the “catastrophic consequences” of widespread malnutrition among children, saying it could cause lifelong damage even for those who survive.
Local officials reported severe shortages of water, food, and essential services, compounded by damaged infrastructure and looming public health crises.
The WHO has verified the deaths of 97 children from malnutrition in Gaza as of 17 September, while at least 51,290 children are receiving treatment for hunger-related conditions—the direct result of Israel's manufactured famine in the strip.
In its statement, Hamas urged governments and international institutions “to employ all available means to stop the genocide, starvation and displacement, and to ensure the prosecution of the occupation’s leaders before the International Criminal Court (ICC) for their brutal crimes, particularly those committed against medical staff and healthcare facilities.”
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