On September 8, 2025, about a month before fighting in Gaza halted, Mohammed Akram al-Kafarna was killed in an Israeli strike.

Following his death, the Palestinian Nurses and Midwives Syndicate mourned al-Kafarna as the Gaza head of the medical association.

The International Council of Nurses, a Geneva-based body that calls itself “the global voice of nursing,” wrote in a condolence letter that it was “deeply saddened by the death of Dr. Mohammed Akram al-Kafarna, one of the leaders of the Palestinian nursing profession in Gaza.”

He was “among the hundreds of nurses and healthcare workers who have tragically lost their lives during the conflict,” the ICN added, according to a copy of the letter published on Facebook.

But al-Kafarna was no Florence Nightingale. According to Hamas, alongside his medical work, al-Kafarna was also a fighter in the Nidal Nasser Battalion in Beit Hanoun, part of its Northern Gaza Brigade.

In a picture published by Hamas, al-Kafarna is seen in full military gear, holding a loaded rifle.

His name is one of scores published by Hamas and its fellow Gazan terror group, Islamic Jihad, in recent months, belatedly identifying their many fighters killed during the two years of war sparked by the October 7, 2023, massacre in southern Israel.

Among the names are not only those previously identified as journalists and athletes, but also healthcare workers, including doctors, nurses, and hospital employees.

The revelations that these figures had dual roles that made them legitimate military targets have cast doubt on claims that the Israel Defense Forces aimed their firepower at innocent civilians, including those in key roles that are supposed to afford them special protections.

At least 18 Gazans killed during the war who were reported to be healthcare workers — including doctors, nurses, paramedics, and other employees of Gaza hospitals or the Hamas-run Health Ministry — have since also appeared in lists published by Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad identifying them as members of the groups.

The names of the 18 were first compiled by independent researcher Salo Aizenberg, and confirmed by The Times of Israel.

Despite the admissions, groups tracking those killed in the two years of fighting continue to list the figures as healthcare workers. On the ICN’s website, the statement condemning al-Kafarna’s death remains available, as does its assertion that his killing constituted a violation of international law.

The role of healthcare amid the fighting in Gaza has been among the most sensitive touchpoints, with Israel accused of targeting hospitals and first responders throughout the war. According to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which is run by the Hamas terror group that has been the de facto ruler of the Strip since 2007, 1,141 health workers are among the approximately 70,000 people killed in Gaza since October 7, 2023. Rights groups, citing the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, claim that the number of health workers killed is over 1,500.

Gaza Health Ministry tallies of war dead, which have never differentiated between civilians and combatants, are considered suspect by Israel given Hamas’s role in administering health and rescue services in the Strip. During the war, Israel regularly accused Hamas of using hospitals and other medical facilities as bases for military operations, often in tunnels dug below hospital buildings.

The IDF has released photographs, operational footage, and interrogation material that it says demonstrate Hamas’s use of hospitals to hide weapons, control centers, barracks, and even hostages.

The army has said its activities around hospitals, which left some facilities closed or only partially operational, sought to protect civilians and patients from harm within a complex combat environment, though rights groups have challenged those claims and continue to accuse Israel of decimating the Strip’s health services as part of a genocidal campaign.

Israel has also defended arrests of hospital directors and other health workers accused of collaborating with Hamas, such as Kamal Adwan hospital head Hussam Abu Safiya, whom the IDF says served as a colonel in Hamas’s armed wing.

Throughout the war, Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the two main fighting forces in Gaza, refrained from identifying rank-and-file operatives killed in the fighting, but, in recent months, both........

© The Times of Israel