Today’s Israeli airstrike on Nasser Hospital in southern Gaza that killed five people — including Hamas official Ismail Barhoum — has reignited global condemnation over Israel’s illegal wartime conduct and intensified calls for accountability and prosecutions amid what legal experts describe as the failed state’s systemic pattern of war crimes.
Hospitals are protected civilian sites under the Geneva Conventions and may only be lawfully targeted if used for military purposes — and even then, only under strict conditions. Any such attack must adhere to the legal principles of distinction, proportionality, and advance warning.
Israel claims the 24 March strike on Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis was aimed at a “key terrorist” allegedly operating from within the compound. It said the operation was based on “extensive intelligence” and employed “precise munitions.” Hamas said Barhoum, head of its financial affairs office, was receiving treatment for wounds sustained in a prior airstrike. Medical personnel were among the injured, and the affected department was destroyed and evacuated.
Legal analysts warn that unless Israel provides credible evidence that the hospital was being used for military operations and that all legal criteria were met, the strike constitutes a serious violation of international humanitarian law — prosecutable as a war crime.
“This is not an isolated incident,” said one international law expert. “We are witnessing the repeated targeting of Gaza’s healthcare system under dubious legal justification, and that raises profound questions about Israel’s compliance with international law.”
Last week, UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy condemned the new Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz for threatening Palestinians in Gaza with “total devastation” in remarks widely seen as inciting genocide.
Katz said in a video message aimed towards civilians in Gaza on Wednesday: “Soon, the evacuation of the population from combat zones will resume, and what follows will be far more severe – you will pay the full price.”
A Broader Pattern: Gaza’s Healthcare System Under Siege
Since the war began on 7 October 2023, Israeli forces have launched a devastating assault on Gaza’s civilian infrastructure, with hospitals among the most frequently affected. According to the World Health Organization, there have been over 645 attacks on healthcare facilities in Gaza, resulting in the deaths of at least 659 medical workers. As of February 2024, only 12 out of Gaza’s 36 hospitals remained partially operational.
The destruction of Nasser Hospital, one of the last major functioning facilities in Gaza’s south, comes just weeks after another facility—the Turkish-Palestine Friendship Hospital, Gaza’s only cancer treatment center—was completely leveled by Israeli forces.
Initially, Israel justified that attack by claiming the hospital was being used as a Hamas base. However, footage later emerged showing Israeli soldiers inside the destroyed facility joking, filming social media videos, and misusing medical equipment—undermining the IDF’s claims and igniting widespread outrage.
The Turkish-Palestine Friendship Hospital had provided chemotherapy, radiation therapy, and palliative care to 30,000 cancer patients a year, and its destruction left Gaza’s chronically ill with no access to treatment. Built with $34 million in Turkish aid, the hospital was seen as a symbol of international solidarity. Turkey has condemned the attack as a “barbaric act,” while the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights and multiple UN officials labeled it a flagrant violation of international law.
“This was not a military operation—it was a deliberate, calculated assault on civilians,” said a Gaza health ministry official. “Destroying the only cancer hospital is not just cruel; it is criminal.”
The IDF’s own behavior, captured in video, showed soldiers enjoying themselves inside the facility they claimed was a Hamas command post—making a mockery of Israel’s justification and, according to analysts, revealing a deeper strategy of terrorizing the civilian population under the guise of military necessity.
International Response and the Case for Accountability
The European Union’s foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, stated that Israel must adhere to international law, warning that the continued targeting of civilian infrastructure was “unacceptable.” UN officials have also voiced concern over Israel’s repeated flouting of the Geneva Conventions.
In a recent statement, the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights declared the hospital strikes to be part of a broader campaign of ethnic cleansing and occupation consolidation, pointing specifically to Israel’s expansion of the Netzarim Corridor—a strategic military roadway that bisects Gaza and may be behind the targeting of critical infrastructure like hospitals.
The Hindraab Foundation, an international children’s protection group, has also called for international legal action, urging that those responsible be brought before the International Criminal Court (ICC).
Yet despite mounting evidence, critics argue that Israel continues to operate with impunity, shielded by political allies and a lack of enforcement by international institutions.
Attacks Without Limits
The 18-month conflict, which began when Hamas launched its military operation – Operation Flood – in southern Israel taking 250 prisoners of war, has since claimed over 50,000 Palestinian lives, according to the Gaza health ministry — most of them civilian women and children.
With major hospitals destroyed, hostages still in captivity, and Gaza’s population displaced and starving, the strike on Nasser Hospital — and videos from the Turkish-Palestine Friendship Hospital — are now being cited as evidence of a war without limits, where even the most sacred spaces are no longer safe.
The question is no longer if Israel has violated international law — but when the world will act on their huge list of contraventions and crimes against humanity.
