Israeli forces have bombed al-Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza City, the largest remaining functioning hospital in northern Gaza, destroying its emergency unit, main entrance and medical oxygen supplies.
Health officials at the Al-Ahli Arab Baptist Hospital evacuated the patients from the building after one person said he received a call from someone who identified himself with the Israeli security shortly before the attack took place.
Critically ill patients were left on the street after fleeing the attack in the early hours of Sunday morning, with one doctor reporting that at least three people, including a child who was on oxygen, died due to the rushed evacuation.
The Israeli military said in a statement it had taken steps to reduce harm to civilians before it struck the compound, which was being used by Hamas militants to plan attacks.
The hospital, an institution of the Anglican Church, was a major medical facility in Gaza City, according to the Gaza health ministry, which is now out of operation because of the attack.
Authorities in Gaza have condemned the bombing, noting that al-Ahli Hospital was treating hundreds of patients when it was hit by at least two missiles. About 500 people were killedwhen Israel bombed the hospital in October 2023.
Israel has repeatedly attacked hospitals in the Palestinian enclave with impunity throughout its devastating war. The Gaza Media Office says Israel has targeted 36 hospitals since it launched its war on October 7, 2023.
“Hundreds of patients and injured people had to be evacuated in the middle of the night, and many of them are now out in the streets without medical care, which puts their lives at risk,” Khalil Al-Deqran, the ministry’s spokesperson said.
The Palestinian foreign ministry and Hamas condemned the attack at Al-Ahli, and said in a statement that Israel was destroying Gaza’s healthcare system.
Israel says Hamas systematically exploits civilian structures, including hospitals, which the militant group denies. Israeli forces have carried out numerous raids in medical facilities in the enclave.
In October 2023, a deadly blast at a parking lot in the compound of Al-Ahli hospital was blamed by Hamas on an Israeli air strike. Israel said a failed rocket launch by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad group had caused the blast.
The militant group denied it was responsible. An investigation by Human Rights Watch later concluded the 2023 explosion was most likely caused by a failed Palestinian rocket launch.
The Baptist Church in Jerusalem and the Middle East said in a statement that 20 minutes before the attack on the hospital, the Israeli military ordered all patients, employees and displaced people to evacuate the premises.
It said the two strikes destroyed the two-storey Genetic Laboratory, damaged the Pharmacy and Emergency Department buildings, and caused collateral damage to surrounding structures, including the St. Philip’s church building.
“The Diocese of Jerusalem is appalled but the bombing of the hospital is now for the fifth time since the beginning of the war in 2023 – and this time was on the morning of Palm Sunday and the beginning of Holy Week,” the Baptist Church said.
“We call upon all governments and people of goodwill to intervene to stop all kinds of attacks on medical and humanitarian institutions,” it said in a statement.
Separate strikes in the enclave on Sunday killed at least 10 Palestinians, including the head of a police station in Khan Younis, in the southern part of the Hamas-run enclave, according to Hamas media and local health authorities.
At least eight more people, including a woman, were killed further north, according to the official Palestinian news agency WAFA. There was no immediate Israeli comment on those reports.
The war in Gaza was triggered by Hamas’ October 7, 2023 attack on southern Israel, in which 1,200 people were killed and 251 taken hostage, according to Israeli tallies.
Since then, more than 50,000 Palestinians have been killed in the Israeli offensive, according to local health authorities. Much of Gaza is in ruins and most of its population has been displaced.
