Allies, NGOs Condemn Israel Strike on Gaza Hospital

People pray in front of the bodies of Palestinians killed in an Israeli airstrike at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, 25 August 2025.
People pray in front of the bodies of Palestinians killed in an Israeli airstrike at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, 25 August 2025.
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Allies, NGOs Condemn Israel Strike on Gaza Hospital

People pray in front of the bodies of Palestinians killed in an Israeli airstrike at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, 25 August 2025.
People pray in front of the bodies of Palestinians killed in an Israeli airstrike at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, 25 August 2025.

World powers voiced shock at the killing of five journalists among 20 victims reported by Gaza's civil defense agency in an Israeli strike on a hospital on Monday.  

The Israeli military said it would investigate the strike in the area of Nasser Hospital, in the southern town of Khan Younis, adding that it "regrets any harm to uninvolved individuals and does not target journalists as such".  

Here is a roundup of world reactions so far.  

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres strongly condemns the killing of Palestinians in Israeli strikes that hit Nasser hospital in Gaza and calls for a prompt, impartial investigation, spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said on Monday. 

"The Secretary-General recalls that civilians, including medical personnel and journalists, must be respected and protected at all times. He calls for a prompt, impartial investigation into these killings," Dujarric told reporters. 

UN rights office spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani said in a statement that journalists and hospitals should never be targeted. 

"The killing of journalists in Gaza should shock the world -- not into stunned silence but into action, demanding accountability and justice."  

The head of the UN's agency for Palestinian affairs UNRWA, Philippe Lazzarini, described the strike as "silencing the last remaining voices reporting about children dying silently amid famine", in a post on X.  

Questioned by reporters at the White House, US President Donald Trump said he had not yet received news of the strike but added: "I'm not happy about it. I don't want to see it." 

He said, "at the same time, we have to end that whole nightmare" in Gaza, where the Hamas group is holding hostages seized in Israel.  

In Israel's staunch European ally Germany, the foreign ministry said it was "shocked by the killing of several journalists, rescue workers, and other civilians" in the Nasser Hospital strike.  

"This attack must be investigated," the ministry said on X, also calling on Israel to "allow immediate independent foreign media access and afford protection for journalists operating in Gaza".  

UK foreign minister David Lammy said he was "horrified" by the hospital strike.  

"Civilians, healthcare workers and journalists must be protected. We need an immediate ceasefire," Lammy wrote on X.  

In Qatar, which has been trying to mediate a halt to the fighting in Gaza, the foreign ministry condemned the strike as "a new episode in the ongoing series of heinous crimes" by Israel. 

"The occupation's approach of targeting journalists and relief and medical workers requires urgent and decisive international action to provide the necessary protection for civilians and ensure that the perpetrators of these atrocities do not escape punishment," it said in a statement.  

Medical aid charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said it was "heartbroken" by the death in the strike of a freelance photographer who had previously worked for it, Mariam Abu Dagga.  

"As Israel continues to shun international law, the only witnesses of their genocidal campaign are deliberately being targeted. It must stop now," it said. 

The Foreign Press Association called for an "immediate explanation" from the Israeli military and prime minister's office.  

"We call on Israel once and for all to halt its abhorrent practice of targeting journalists," the group said in a statement. 



Israeli Reservist Rams Vehicle into Palestinian Man Praying in West Bank

Israeli security forces secure a street as they leave the Palestinian village of Bizariya, in the occupied West Bank, where Israeli authorities demolished the house of a Palestinian man killed in July after he and another man reportedly killed an Israeli settler on the same day, on December 24, 2025. (AFP)
Israeli security forces secure a street as they leave the Palestinian village of Bizariya, in the occupied West Bank, where Israeli authorities demolished the house of a Palestinian man killed in July after he and another man reportedly killed an Israeli settler on the same day, on December 24, 2025. (AFP)
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Israeli Reservist Rams Vehicle into Palestinian Man Praying in West Bank

Israeli security forces secure a street as they leave the Palestinian village of Bizariya, in the occupied West Bank, where Israeli authorities demolished the house of a Palestinian man killed in July after he and another man reportedly killed an Israeli settler on the same day, on December 24, 2025. (AFP)
Israeli security forces secure a street as they leave the Palestinian village of Bizariya, in the occupied West Bank, where Israeli authorities demolished the house of a Palestinian man killed in July after he and another man reportedly killed an Israeli settler on the same day, on December 24, 2025. (AFP)

An Israeli reservist soldier rammed his vehicle into a Palestinian man as he prayed on a roadside in ​the occupied West Bank on Thursday, after earlier firing shots in the area, the Israeli military said.

"Footage was received of an armed individual running over a Palestinian individual," it said in a statement, adding the individual was a reservist ‌and his ‌military service had ‌been terminated.

The ⁠reservist ​acted "in severe ‌violation of his authority" and his weapon had been confiscated, the military said.

Israeli media reported that he was being held under house arrest.

The Israeli police did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

The ⁠Palestinian man went to hospital for checks after ‌the attack, but was unhurt ‍and is now ‍at home.

Video which aired on Palestinian ‍TV shows a man in civilian clothing with a gun slung over his shoulder driving an off-road vehicle into a man praying on ​the side of the road.

This year ​was one of the most violent on ⁠record for Israeli civilian attacks against Palestinians in the West Bank, according to United Nations data that shows more than 750 injuries.

More than a thousand Palestinians were killed in the West Bank between October 7, 2023 and October 17, 2025, mostly in operations by security forces and some by settler violence, according to the UN In ‌the same period, 57 Israelis were killed in Palestinian attacks.


Deadly Blast Hits Mosque in Syria’s Homs

A Syrian flag waves in Damascus. (Getty Images/AFP)
A Syrian flag waves in Damascus. (Getty Images/AFP)
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Deadly Blast Hits Mosque in Syria’s Homs

A Syrian flag waves in Damascus. (Getty Images/AFP)
A Syrian flag waves in Damascus. (Getty Images/AFP)

A deadly explosion hit a mosque in Syria's Homs on Friday, said authorities who reported at least six people killed.

"A terrorist explosion targeted the Ali Bin Abi Talib Mosque during Friday prayers in Al-Khadri Street in the Wadi al-Dahab neighborhood of Homs," the interior ministry said in a statement, adding that six people were killed and 21 others wounded.

Syria's state news agency SANA, which also reported the blast, said its cause and nature were being investigated.

According to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human rights monitor, it was not immediately clear whether the blast "was caused by a suicide attack or an explosive device".

A local security source in Homs told AFP on condition of anonymity the explosion may have been caused by "an explosive device placed inside the mosque".

A resident of the area, requesting anonymity out of fear for his safety, told AFP people "heard a loud explosion, followed by chaos and panic in the neighborhood".

SANA published photos from inside the mosque, one of which showed a hole in a wall.

Black smoke covered part of the mosque, with carpets and books scattered nearby.


Fuel Shortage Forces Gaza Hospital to Suspend Most Services

The sun sets behind a makeshift tent camp for displaced Palestinians set up in an area of al-Bureij camp, in the central Gaza Strip, Wednesday, Dec. 24, 2025. (AP)
The sun sets behind a makeshift tent camp for displaced Palestinians set up in an area of al-Bureij camp, in the central Gaza Strip, Wednesday, Dec. 24, 2025. (AP)
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Fuel Shortage Forces Gaza Hospital to Suspend Most Services

The sun sets behind a makeshift tent camp for displaced Palestinians set up in an area of al-Bureij camp, in the central Gaza Strip, Wednesday, Dec. 24, 2025. (AP)
The sun sets behind a makeshift tent camp for displaced Palestinians set up in an area of al-Bureij camp, in the central Gaza Strip, Wednesday, Dec. 24, 2025. (AP)

A major Gaza hospital has suspended several services because of a critical fuel shortage in the devastated Palestinian territory, which continues to face a severe humanitarian crisis, it said.

Devastated by more than two years of war, the Al-Awda Hospital in the central Gaza district of Nuseirat cares for around 60 in-patients and receives nearly 1,000 people seeking medical treatment each day.

"Most services have been temporarily stopped due to a shortage of the fuel needed for the generators," said Ahmed Mehanna, a senior official involved in managing the hospital.

"Only essential departments remain operational: the emergency unit, maternity ward and pediatrics."

To keep these services running, the hospital has been forced to rent a small generator, he added.

Under normal conditions, Al-Awda Hospital consumes between 1,000 and 1,200 liters of diesel per day. At present, however, it has only 800 liters available.

"We stress that this shutdown is temporary and linked to the availability of fuel," Mehanna said, warning that a prolonged fuel shortage "would pose a direct threat to the hospital's ability to deliver basic services".

He urged local and international organizations to intervene swiftly to ensure a steady supply of fuel.

Despite a fragile truce observed since October 10, the Gaza Strip remains engulfed in a severe humanitarian crisis.

While the ceasefire agreement stipulated the entry of 600 aid trucks per day into Gaza, only 100 to 300 carrying humanitarian assistance can currently enter, according to the United Nations and non-governmental organizations.

The remaining convoys largely transport commercial goods that remain inaccessible to most of Gaza's 2.2 million people.

- Health hard hit -

On a daily basis, the vast majority of Gaza's residents rely on aid from UN agencies and international NGOs for survival.

Gaza's health sector has been among the hardest hit by the war.

During the fighting, the Israeli miliary repeatedly struck hospitals and medical centers across Gaza, accusing Hamas of operating command centers there, an allegation the group denied.

International medical charity Doctors Without Borders now manages roughly one-third of Gaza's 2,300 hospital beds, while all five stabilization centers for children suffering from severe malnutrition are supported by international NGOs.

The war in Gaza was sparked on October 7, 2023, following an unprecedented Hamas attack on Israel that resulted in the deaths of 1,221 people, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.

In Israel's ensuing military campaign in Gaza, at least 70,942 people - also mostly civilians - have been killed, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory.