Slain Gaza doctor Marwan Al-Sultan 'stayed with his patients until the end'

Dr Marwan Al-Sultan, one of the Gaza Strip's most senior physicians and the director of the Indonesian Hospital in northern Gaza, was killed in an Israeli airstrike on Wednesday alongside his wife and daughter.

The deadly strike hit their home in Gaza City's 'Area 17', where they had taken refuge after being displaced from Jabalia.

Al-Sultan had remained in the Indonesian Hospital for months during Israel’s siege, managing its operations and treating patients under fire, even as the facility came under repeated bombardment and faced total collapse.

He was among the last to evacuate when Israeli attacks forced the hospital out of service in May.

During his funeral, his heartbroken daughter Lamis said that her father refused to leave his post until the very last moment. "He stayed with his patients until the very last moment," she said.

Al-Sultan, a consultant cardiologist and professor at Gaza’s Islamic University, was overseeing the restoration and reopening of the Indonesian Hospital after previous Israeli attacks and was one of only two cardiologists remaining in the besieged and bombed Gaza Strip.

'A great shock and grief'

His cousin, Mohammed al-Sultan said: "Marwan was the calm, committed doctor. He never left the hospital, even under siege. He made sure his team had the little food that arrived before taking any for himself… He wasn’t just a doctor—he was a symbol of dedication and patience."

Dr Mohammed Abu Selmia, director of al-Shifa Hospital, added: "We are in great shock and grief. He cannot be replaced. He was a prominent scholar and one of the two remaining cardiologists left in Gaza. Thousands of heart patients will suffer as a result of his killing. His only fault was that he was a doctor. We have no option but to be steadfast, but the sense of loss is devastating."

His killing comes as Israel ramps up a systematic campaign against Gaza's healthcare system. According to Gaza's health ministry, over 1,580 healthcare workers have been killed since October 2023.

Dozens of hospitals and ambulances have been attacked or besieged, while senior medical staff have been detained or killed, even after evacuation.

On the day of Al-Sultan's killing, a new documentary exposing Israel’s war on Gaza’s health system was aired by the UK’s Channel 4 after being pulled by the BBC.

'Doctors Under Attack', directed by Ben de Pear, Ramita Navai and Karim Shah, documents the systematic targeting of Gaza’s healthcare workers and hospitals amid Israel’s war, now in its 21st month.

Israel's war on Gaza doctors

On June 6 alone, the first day of Eid, nine healthcare workers were killed in an Israeli massacre in northern Gaza while sheltering with their families, according to the group Healthcare Workers Watch (HWW).

"The killing of Dr Marwan al-Sultan by the Israeli military is a catastrophic loss to Gaza and the entire medical community, and will have a devastating impact on Gaza’s healthcare system," said Muath Alser, director of HWW.

"This is part of a much longer and systematic atrocious targeting of healthcare workers sanctioned by impunity. This is a tragic loss of life, but also an obliteration of their decades of lifesaving medical expertise and care at a time when the situation facing Palestinian civilians is unfathomably catastrophic."

Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP) condemned Dr Marwan Al-Sultan’s killing, saying that he worked under "unimaginable conditions" to provide care to patients trying to survive months of Israel’s military bombardment and blockade.

This included the forced closure of the Indonesian Hospital due to an Israeli offensive in May, when patients were forced into the streets.

Mai Elawawda, MAP's Communications Officer in Gaza, said: "I still remember the last appeal of Dr Marwan Al-Sultan, when the Indonesian Hospital was completely besieged by the Israeli army before it was forced out of service. It was the last remaining hospital in North Gaza back then.

"He shared his harrowing testimony as the hospital came under non-stop targeting. I messaged him afterward, and he replied with: 'Please, pass our message through.'

"I remember his words now and those of many others who have consistently warned us of the collapse of the health system and the worsening humanitarian situation in Gaza. This is the second doctor, in just a matter of days, who had sent out a desperate call through us and we have since witnessed their killing."