Attacks on health facilities during the Gaza war in the context of "Bombing of the Gaza Strip"

Attacks on protected zones and civilians in Gaza during the Gaza war have led to the killing of over 30,000 Palestinians and the displacement of over 2 million people, as well as the collapse of the education system and the destruction of most homes and hospitals in Gaza. Israel has faced accusations of war crimes from South Africa, the UN Human Rights Council, and Amnesty International, among others, due to the number of civilian casualties and the percentage of civilian infrastructure destroyed, including Palestinian refugee camps, schools, mosques, churches, and more. As early as December 2023, analysis of satellite data showed that 80% of buildings in northern Gaza had been damaged or ruined. As of January 2024, researchers from Oregon State University and the City University of New York estimated that 50 to 62 percent of all buildings in the Gaza Strip were damaged or destroyed.

The Israeli Air Force conducted numerous concerted aerial bombardment campaigns on the Gaza Strip during the Gaza war until the enactment of a ceasefire in October 2025. Since then, a few limited strikes have still been carried out.

The bombing, combined with other simultaneous Israeli military actions in Gaza, killed at least 68,000 Palestinians (mostly civilians), which is between 3% and 4% of the total population of the territory, and damaged or destroyed Palestinian schools, hospitals, mosques, churches, and other civilian infrastructure including refugee camps.

The siege of North Gaza was an engagement of the Gaza war in the North Gaza Governorate, Gaza Strip, between Israel and Hamas-led Palestinian forces. It began on 5 October 2024 when the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) reinvaded Jabalia and its refugee camp for the first time in months since earlier fighting.

The siege was reportedly part of Israel's "generals' plan" to force Palestinians out of northern Gaza by designating it a combat zone and issuing evacuation orders to civilians under threat of death. The IDF imposed a complete siege on northern Gaza, cutting it off from Gaza City by destroying most of the roads leading south and preventing the entry of aid. Evacuations were hindered, however, by Israeli bombardments and shootings of fleeing civilians, leaving many trapped. Human rights groups raised concerns of war crimes, and Israeli actions were characterized as ethnic cleansing and genocide. Israel attacked hospitals and medical infrastructure, as international bodies warned of disastrous conditions in Jabalia.

The Gaza genocide is the ongoing, intentional, and systematic destruction of the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip carried out by Israel during the Gaza war. It encompasses mass killings, deliberate starvation, infliction of serious bodily and mental harm, and preventing births. Other acts include blockading, destroying civilian infrastructure, destroying healthcare facilities, killing healthcare workers and aid-seekers, causing mass forced displacement, committing sexual violence, and destroying educational, religious, and cultural sites. The genocide has been recognised by a United Nations special committee and commission of inquiry, the International Association of Genocide Scholars, multiple human rights groups, numerous genocide studies and international law scholars, and other experts.

By October 2025, the Gaza Health Ministry had reported that at least 66,148 people in Gaza had been killed. The vast majority of the victims are civilians, of whom at least 50% are women and children. Compared to other recent global conflicts, the numbers of known deaths of journalists, humanitarian and health workers, and children are among the highest. Thousands more uncounted dead bodies are thought to be under the rubble of destroyed buildings. A study in the medical journal The Lancet estimated that traumatic injury deaths were undercounted by June 2024, while noting an even larger potential death toll when "indirect" deaths are included. The number of injured is greater than 170,000. Gaza has the most child amputees per capita in the world; the Gaza war has caused more than 21,000 children to be disabled.

During the Gaza war, the healthcare system of Gaza was destroyed by Israeli attacks on hospitals and health facilities, killing of healthcare workers, and blockade of medical supplies from entering Gaza. The resulting collapse of the healthcare system was part of a broader humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip caused by the war.

The hospitals faced a lack of fuel due to the Israeli siege and relied on backup generators for the first two weeks of the war. By 23 October 2023, Gaza hospitals began shutting down as they ran out of fuel, starting with the Indonesia Hospital. When hospitals lost power completely, multiple premature babies in NICUs died. By the end of May 2024, both the World Health Organization and International Rescue Committee reported only one-third of Gaza's hospitals remained at least partially operational.

Since the beginning of the Gaza war on 7 October 2023, the Israeli military and authorities committed numerous war crimes, such as the collective punishment of the Palestinian people, attacks on civilians in densely populated areas (including bombings of hospitals and medical facilities, refugee camps, schools and educational institutions, and municipal services); the torture and executions of civilians; sexual violence including rape; and genocide. Further war crime charges against Israel include forced evacuations, mistreatment and torture of Palestinian prisoners, and the destruction of cultural heritage. Humanitarian organizations such as Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, B'tselem, and Oxfam, as well as human rights groups and experts, including the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry and United Nations special rapporteurs, have documented these actions.

Israel has faced legal charges for its conduct in the war. At the International Court of Justice, Israel was charged with committing genocide in Gaza. In May 2024, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants against Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israeli defence minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity, including using starvation as a weapon of war.