Israeli unit abducts Gaza’s field hospitals director in raid on ambulance in Khan Younis

An armed Israeli unit abducted Marwan al-Homs, director of Gaza’s field hospitals, spokesperson for Gaza’s Health Ministry and head of Abu Youssef al-Najjar Hospital.

An eyewitness told Mada Masr that, at around noon on Monday, a group of armed individuals infiltrated an area near the Fish Fresh coastal resort in Khan Younis.

Homs was in an ambulance on his way to a field hospital in southern Gaza, “carrying out routine humanitarian and medical duties,” the Government Media Office stated.

The eyewitness said they saw the armed unit exit the car and open heavy fire on nearby civilians while carrying out the abduction. The media office said fire also directly targeted the vehicle.

The ambulance Homs was travelling in was also carrying three other people, one of whom was killed, according to the media office. Al-Aqsa radio station said the person killed was journalist Tamer al-Zaanin. The ambulance driver and another passenger were injured, according to the media office.

The Israeli vehicle then headed southward along the coastal road leading to Rafah, the eyewitness said.

Israeli aerial bombardment and ground operations have increasingly targeted Khan Younis in the Gaza Strip’s south over recent weeks. The Israeli military has issued a series of evacuation orders, forcibly displacing residents from their homes in the city. Journalists in Gaza have also described Israeli tanks advancing toward Khan Younis neighborhoods.

Hospitals and clinics in Khan Younis remain vital for those still in the area, including thousands of aidseekers who make their way daily to nearby Gaza Humanitarian Foundation distribution centers. Doctors in the area continue to treat fatalities and injuries caused by Israeli fire targeting those seeking aid. 

Homs joins other medical professionals who have been targeted for arrest by Israeli troops, including the director of Kamal Adwan Hospital, Hossam Abu Safiya, in December last year. Safiya’s lawyer has since told media that his client has been subject to torture in detention.

Gaza’s Health Ministry condemned the kidnapping in a statement on Monday, describing the incident as “a dangerous precedent that constitutes a direct targeting of the voice of the sick, the hungry and the tormented in Gaza.”

The “cowardly act” reflects a “deliberate intent to silence the truth and obscure the suffering of an entire population enduring the worst humanitarian and health catastrophe.”