JERUSALEM — An Israeli strike killed a security guard and wounded 10 patients at a field hospital in the southern Gaza Strip on Tuesday, according to the director of the medical facility.

The deadly attack on the grounds of the Kuwait Specialty Field Hospital came two days after Israel attacked the Al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza City, one of the last functioning medical centers in Gaza. Israel has said the strike on Al-Ahli Hospital was targeting a Hamas command center, without providing evidence.

On Tuesday, the Israeli military said it was looking into the reports about the strike on the Kuwait Specialty Field Hospital.

Dr. Suhaib al-Hamss, the field hospital’s director, said the guard was killed protecting the entrance to the facility. Four of the wounded suffered serious injuries, he added.

“It was a powerful strike,” al-Hamss, 37, said in a phone interview. “Everything fell over.”

Israeli Offensive Caused Immense Damage to Hospitals

The Israeli military offensive in Gaza has caused immense damage to hospitals and the health care system in the enclave. The World Health Organization reported last month that 33 of Gaza’s 36 hospitals had been damaged during the war, and only 21 remained partly functional. The WHO also warned Saturday that hospitals in Gaza face a looming medicine shortage because Israel has blocked aid deliveries for six weeks.

Israel has accused Hamas of exploiting health facilities by using them for military purposes — allegations that the militant group has denied.

Al-Hamss said the hospital’s location was known to Israeli authorities as it had been shared through intermediaries before the attack. He added that staff members were vetted and that Hamas government offices were not hosted at the medical facility.

“We’re not doing anything other than medicine,” he said.

The Kuwait Specialty Field Hospital was treating a minimum of 3,500 patients every day, according to al-Hamss.

“The hospital,” he said, “is providing a solution to the people in light of the collapse of the heath sector in Gaza.”

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This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

By Adam Rasgon/Saher Alghorra
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