A Bulgarian Doctor Survives Israeli Bombing in Gaza Hospital
Novinite.com
16 May 2025

Dr. Milena Angelova-Chee, a Bulgarian intensive care doctor, endured the horror of an Israeli bombing at the European Hospital in the Gaza Strip on May 13, 2025. The news was shared by her brother, lawyer Kalin Angelov, in a Facebook post. "My beautiful sister, who I always looked up to. She survived the attack by the Israeli army on the European Hospital in Gaza," Angelov wrote, expressing both relief and admiration for his sister's courage.
Velichka Georgieva, who once worked alongside Dr. Angelova in the burn unit at Pirogov Hospital in Sofia, described her as a doctor with the instinct to rush into danger to help others. "That's the mentality of an emergency medic - she dives into the deep end, then measures it," Georgieva said.
Speaking to ABC News, Dr. Angelova revealed that the intensive care unit was filled with critically ill patients at the time of the bombing. "There are three children among them, all very, very sick, on ventilators. They have nowhere to go," she said. "Anyone who could leave has already left, but the ICU is still full of patients we're desperately trying to evacuate because other nearby ICUs are also full."
She also mentioned that the volunteer doctors working with the international charity Ideals were now waiting to learn if they too would need to be evacuated.
On May 13, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) confirmed the strike on a hospital in Gaza, claiming that it was being used by Hamas for "terrorist activities." According to the IDF, they targeted a "command and control center" in Nasr Hospital in Khan Yunis, alleging that high-ranking Hamas members were operating from the hospital and using the civilian population as cover.
In response, the Hamas-led government in Gaza stated that the attack resulted in the deaths of patients, without specifying how many. They also reported the death of journalist Hassan Aslih, the director of the Palestinian news agency Alam24. According to Gaza Civil Defense spokesperson Mahmoud Bassal, Aslih was killed while receiving treatment in the surgical ward of Nasr Hospital after being wounded on April 7 in another Israeli strike.
The IDF had previously identified Aslih as a "terrorist operating under the guise of a journalist," accusing him of participating in the October 7, 2023, attack and broadcasting footage of the violence on social media.
In addition to Aslih, two other journalists - Hilmi al-Fakawi and Ahmed Mansour - were reported killed on April 7 in the same strike, according to Hamas sources. The two had been working for local news agencies and media outlets linked to the Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement.
We remind you, that on March 19, 2025, Bulgarian UN worker Marin Marinov was killed during a strike on a UN facility in Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip. According to the UN and Bulgarian sources such as , the attack was caused by an Israeli tank shell, resulting in Marinov's death and injuring six other UN staff members from various countries.
Marinov, a 51-year-old from Yambol, was a seasoned maritime professional and had been working with the UN since 2016, most recently coordinating humanitarian aid efforts in Gaza.
On April 25, .