Gaza correspondent
An Israeli air strike has destroyed a part of Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital, the final absolutely useful hospital in Gaza Metropolis.
Witnesses mentioned the strike destroyed the intensive care and surgical procedure departments of the hospital.
Video posted on-line appeared to indicate large flames and smoke rising after missiles hit a two-storey constructing. Folks, together with some sufferers nonetheless in hospital beds, had been filmed dashing away from the positioning.
The Israel Protection Forces (IDF) mentioned it focused the hospital as a result of it contained a “command and management heart utilized by Hamas”. No casualties had been reported, in keeping with Gaza’s civil emergency service.
Nonetheless, one little one who beforehand suffered a head damage died because of “the rushed evacuation course of”, in keeping with an announcement from the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem, which is affiliated to the hospital.
Gaza’s Hamas-run well being ministry mentioned the constructing was “utterly destroyed”, resulting in the “compelled displacement of sufferers and hospital employees”.
The IDF mentioned it had taken steps “to mitigate hurt to civilians or to the hospital compound, together with issuing superior warnings within the space of the fear infrastructure, using exact munitions, and aerial surveillance”.
A neighborhood journalist, who was working on the hospital, mentioned the IDF had phoned a health care provider who was working within the emergency division and requested them to evacuate the hospital instantly.
“All sufferers and displaced folks should exit to a protected distance,” the officer reportedly mentioned.
“You’ve got solely 20 minutes to depart.”
Footage on social media confirmed employees and sufferers leaving the constructing whereas it was nonetheless darkish exterior.
Dozens of Palestinians, together with girls and youngsters, had been additionally seen fleeing from a courtyard contained in the hospital the place that they had been looking for shelter.
EPAAl-Ahli – a small medical facility earlier than the warfare – was the one absolutely useful hospital in Gaza Metropolis, following the destruction of Al-Shifa medical complex and hospitals within the northern a part of the Strip.
In its assertion, the Hamas-run authorities media workplace condemned the assault.
Israel “is committing a horrific crime by concentrating on Al-Ahli Hospital, which homes a whole bunch of sufferers and medical employees”, it mentioned.
In October 2023, an explosion on the identical hospital killed hundreds of people.
Palestinian officers blamed an Israeli strike for the blast. Israel mentioned the blast was brought on by a failed rocket launch by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad militant group, which denied accountability.
The Israeli army launched a marketing campaign to destroy Hamas in response to an unprecedented cross-border assault on 7 October 2023, by which about 1,200 Israelis had been killed and 251 others had been taken hostage.
Greater than 50,933 folks have been killed in Gaza since then, in keeping with the territory’s Hamas-run well being ministry.
Of these, 1,563 have been killed since 18 March, when Israel restarted its offensive within the Gaza Strip, the ministry mentioned.
