Gaza correspondent
An Israeli air strike has destroyed a part of Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital, the final functioning hospital in Gaza Metropolis.
Witnesses stated the strike destroyed the intensive care and surgical procedure departments of the hospital.
Video posted on-line appeared to point out large flames and smoke rising after missiles hit a two-storey constructing. Folks, together with some sufferers nonetheless in hospital beds, have been filmed dashing away from the positioning.
The Israel Protection Forces (IDF) stated it focused the hospital as a result of it contained a “command and management heart utilized by Hamas”. No casualties have been reported, based on Gaza’s civil emergency service.
Nonetheless, one youngster who beforehand suffered a head damage died because of “the rushed evacuation course of”, based on a press release from the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem, which is affiliated to the hospital.
Gaza’s Hamas-run well being ministry stated the constructing was “utterly destroyed”, resulting in the “compelled displacement of sufferers and hospital workers”.
The IDF stated it had taken steps “to mitigate hurt to civilians or to the hospital compound, together with issuing superior warnings within the space of the phobia infrastructure, the usage of exact munitions, and aerial surveillance”.
A neighborhood journalist, who was working on the hospital, stated 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 individuals should exit to a secure distance,” the officer reportedly stated.
“You might have solely 20 minutes to depart.”
Footage on social media confirmed workers and sufferers leaving the constructing whereas it was nonetheless darkish outdoors.
Dozens of Palestinians, together with girls and kids, have been additionally seen fleeing from a courtyard contained in the hospital the place they’d been looking for shelter.
EPAAl-Ahli – a small medical facility earlier than the warfare – is now the one hospital nonetheless functioning 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 focusing on Al-Ahli Hospital, which homes a whole lot of sufferers and medical workers”, it stated.
In October 2023, an explosion on the similar hospital killed hundreds of people.
Palestinian officers blamed an Israeli strike for the blast. Israel stated the blast was brought on by a failed rocket launch by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad militant group, which denied duty.
The Israeli navy launched a marketing campaign to destroy Hamas in response to an unprecedented cross-border assault on 7 October 2023, wherein about 1,200 Israelis have been killed and 251 others have been taken hostage.
Greater than 50,933 individuals have been killed in Gaza since then, based on 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 stated.
