Israeli Airstrike Destroys Part of Gaza Hospital Amid Ongoing Conflict

Gaza’s civil defence agency reported that an Israeli airstrike early Sunday destroyed parts of Al-Ahli hospital, also known as the Baptist or Ahli Arab hospital, in Gaza City. The strike occurred after Israel seized a corridor in the territory and announced plans to expand its military offensive. The civil defence agency said the airstrike came “minutes after the army’s warning to evacuate this building of patients, the injured and their companions.”

There were no reported casualties in the strike. The civil defence agency stated that the bombing led to the destruction of the surgery building and the oxygen generation station for intensive care units. The Israeli military told AFP that they were looking into the incident.

Hospitals in Gaza, protected under international humanitarian law, have repeatedly been hit by Israeli strikes since the war began between Israel and Hamas on October 7, 2023. Israel accuses Hamas of using hospital facilities as command centres and of building tunnels beneath them—charges that Hamas denies.

Al-Ahli hospital was previously heavily damaged by an explosion in its car park on October 17, 2023, which killed scores of people. While Hamas and Islamic Jihad blamed Israel, the Israeli government denied responsibility and said the explosion was caused by a misfired rocket from Islamic Jihad—a claim supported by the United States.

Hamas’s press office stated Sunday that Israeli forces have targeted hospitals including Al-Ahli with “bombing, arson, destruction,” or otherwise rendered them “non-operational.” On March 28, the World Health Organization reported that only 22 of Gaza’s 36 hospitals were partially functional.

The ongoing Gaza war erupted following Hamas’s October 2023 attack on Israel, which killed 1,218 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official data. Gaza’s health ministry reported Saturday that 1,563 Palestinians had been killed since March 18, when a ceasefire collapsed, bringing the total death toll since the war began to 50,933.