In an incident that forms part of a sustained pattern of killings targeting civilians, a Palestinian nurse was killed on Wednesday morning as a result of a strike carried out by an Israeli occupation drone in the city of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip.
The body of the victim, Hatem Abu Saleh, was transferred to Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis after he was targeted near the eastern areas of the city, specifically in the vicinity of Bani Suheila which is a district that contains civilian neighbourhoods and is known for its extremely limited medical and service infrastructure. Abu Saleh worked as a nurse at Nasser Hospital, one of the largest remaining healthcare facilities in the south of the enclave.
This killing comes amid an ongoing military escalation. In the early hours of Wednesday, areas of Rafah were subjected to air strikes and artillery shelling, alongside helicopter gunfire directed at the city’s northern neighbourhoods. Artillery shells also struck areas northeast of Al-Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza, further compounding the dangers facing civilians in densely populated areas.
The targeting of civilians, particularly medical personnel, constitutes a grave violation of the Geneva Conventions, which guarantee the protection of healthcare workers during armed conflict and impose a legal obligation on the occupying power to ensure their safety and shield them from hostile acts. The killing of individuals outside active hostilities, in the absence of any imminent threat, is classified as unlawful killing and may amount to a war crime.
The presence or absence of ceasefire or de-escalation agreements does not alter the illegal nature of such acts. The protection of civilians is a fundamental principle of international law that cannot be suspended under any circumstances. The accumulating evidence in the Gaza Strip points to a pattern of excessive and indiscriminate use of force, carried out without accountability, reinforcing a climate of impunity.
Since October 2023, the genocidal war waged by the Israeli occupation against the Gaza Strip has resulted in tens of thousands of Palestinian dead and wounded, the majority of them women and children, alongside the widespread destruction of civilian infrastructure, including hospitals and medical centres, in one of the gravest humanitarian catastrophes of modern times.
The continued killing of civilians and healthcare workers underscores the urgent need for effective international action to ensure legal accountability and provide genuine protection for Gaza’s civilian population, rather than the hollow statements of condemnation that have thus far failed to halt these repeated violations.
