By Harun Nasrullah
London, (The Muslim News): The World Health Organization’s (WHO) Director-General expressed alarm on Friday over the deteriorating health infrastructure in the Gaza Strip, warning that two key hospitals are “at risk of becoming non-functional.”
“Gaza’s health system is collapsing, with Nasser Medical Complex — the most important referral hospital left — and Al-Amal Hospital at risk of becoming non-functional,” Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus wrote on X. He added that both hospitals lie within or just outside the evacuation zone announced by Israeli authorities on June 2, and that “access routes leading to both hospitals will be obstructed,” making safe access “difficult, if not impossible.” “The hospitals going out of service would have dire consequences for patients in need of surgical care, intensive care, blood bank and transfusion services, cancer care, and dialysis,” Tedros warned.
Amid this growing humanitarian crisis, Israeli military operations across the Gaza Strip intensified on Friday, coinciding with the first day of Eid al-Adha. According to eyewitnesses and medical sources, at least 42 Palestinians were killed and dozens more wounded in a series of airstrikes and artillery bombardments.
Many Palestinians were seen performing Eid prayers amid the rubble of destroyed homes.
In central Gaza, three Palestinians were killed in Deir al-Balah when Israeli warplanes targeted a residential home. In Khan Younis, multiple Israeli air raids and heavy artillery strikes hit residential neighbourhoods in the southern, central, northern, and eastern parts of the city.
Medical sources reported that a child was shot dead by Israeli forces near the Al-Saraya detention area in Khan Younis. Another civilian died from injuries sustained in a previous Israeli strike.
Four Palestinians were killed and several others injured after an Israeli drone targeted a mobile phone charging station situated between tents sheltering displaced families west of Khan Younis. In a separate incident in the Al-Mawasi area of Khan Younis, two more Palestinians were killed, reported Anadolu Agecny.
In Rafah, Israeli forces opened fire near an aid distribution centre, killing eight and injuring 61 others, according to medical officials. The location has reportedly been targeted repeatedly since late May.
As of Friday, Gaza’s government media office reported that at least 110 Palestinians had been killed and 583 injured near aid centres since May 27.
The UD backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) announced it had once again suspended all its aid distribution points across the Strip, citing escalating attacks. In a message to the public, GHF urged desperate residents to stay away “for their safety.” Earlier in the week, the organisation halted operations for more than a day after what it described as “massacres” at aid queues.
According to the Gaza Health Ministry, Israel’s ongoing war has now killed at least 54,677 Palestinians and injured 125,530 others since the conflict began.
In one of Friday’s deadliest incidents, WAFA correspondents reported that 10 civilians were killed when an Israeli fighter jet targeted the home of the Najjar family in Jabalia al-Balad, northern Gaza. The strike also injured several others.
Separately, four more Palestinians were killed in another Israeli drone strike that hit a charging point between tents in western Khan Younis — the same site mentioned earlier — while Israeli forces simultaneously fired on an aid distribution centre west of Rafah, killing four.
Meanwhile, the Israeli army confirmed that four Israeli soldiers were killed, and five others wounded on Friday morning in an explosion inside a booby-trapped building in the Bani Suheila neighbourhood of Khan Younis. “The explosion caused the structure to collapse on the soldiers,” the Israeli military said, as reported by the Times of Israel.
In Tel Aviv, Israeli army chief Eyal Zamir approved “new operational plans” on Friday to expand the military’s ground offensive in Gaza. According to Yedioth Ahronoth, Zamir ordered the expansion to include additional areas in both northern and southern Gaza. This comes after Israeli media reported on May 22 that the military was planning to establish control over 75% of Gaza within two months.
[Photo: Relatives of the Palestinians killed by the Israeli attacks on Jabalia refugee camp mourn as the bodies are brought to Al Shifa hospital morgue in Gaza Strip on June 6, 2025.
Photojournalist: Ali Jadallah/AA]
