An Israeli air strike has destroyed part of the last fully functional hospital in Gaza. Witnesses said the strike caused major damage to the intensive care and surgery departments of Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital.
Video posted online showed huge flames and smoke rising after missiles hit a two-storey building. It also showed patients still in hospital beds being wheeled away from the site. The Israel Defence Force confirmed it had targeted the hospital They said it contained a ‘command and control centre used by Hamas‘.
One of the patients Mohammed Abu Naser said he was still inside when it was struck. He said: “We expected that we would all die inside the hospital… I have no treatment or anything right now.”
Another patient died during the evacuation because medical staff were unable to provide urgent care. The hospital’s director Dr Fadel Naim, said they were warned of the attack beforehand.
In a post on social media site X, he wrote that ‘the emergency room, pharmacy and surrounding buildings were severely damaged, impacting more than 100 patients and dozens of medical staff.’
Khalil Al-Deqran, a spokesman for the health ministry said: “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.”
The ‘Baptist Church in Jerusalem and the Middle East’ which oversees the hospital said the strike was the fifth attack on the facility since the war started on October 7, 2023.
The World Health Organisation said hospitals in Gaza are ‘in dire need, yet the shrinking humanitarian access is obstructing WHO’s ability to resupply them and preventing patients from safely receiving life-saving care.’ The strikes came hours after Israel’s defence minister said military activity would rapidly expand across Gaza and that people would have to evacuate from “fighting zones”.
Israel also announced the completion of the Morag corridor, cutting off the southern city of Rafah from the rest of Gaza. The army said it would soon expand ‘vigorously’ in most of the small coastal territory. Israeli authorities have vowed to pressure Hamas to release the remaining 59 hostages, 24 believed to be alive, and accept proposed new ceasefire terms.
The October 7th attacks saw 1,200 Israeli people killed and 251 hostages taken. The territory’s Hamas-run health ministry has said more than 50,000 Palestinians have been killed during the military campaign.
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