Three dead after Israel bombs last functioning hospital in Gaza
Israel has struck the last functioning hospital in Gaza, further worsening an already critical lack of medical facilities in the enclave.
Although the attack caused no direct casualties, Gaza's civil defence rescue agency said the strike on al-Ahli al-Arabi Baptist Hospital led to "the destruction of the surgery building and the oxygen generation station for the intensive care units".
They told AFP the attack came "minutes after the [Israeli] army's warning to evacuate this building of patients, the injured and their companions".
Missiles hit the hospital's main reception building, damaging or destroying essential departments such as the emergency care ward, laboratory and pharmacy, Wafa news agency reported.
Eyewitnesses say the military threatened to bomb the hospital just minutes before the strikes, giving those in its compounds only 18 minutes to evacuate.
Due to the rushed expulsion, critically ill patients were evacuated out in the cold without proper care.
At least three patients - including a child being treated for head injuries - died as a result.
One woman was sleeping in the hospital overnight while she waited for her husbanded to be treated.
Even before the attack happened, the hospital was filled with patients injured by Israel's more than a year long assault on Gaza.
"I just wanted to rest, i just wanted to sleep - the whole day was filled with the screams of children with severed [body parts], their arms, their legs... these sights can drive a person to insanity," she told Middle East Eye. "We can't sit and sleep, we couldn't take it anymore."
She said they tried to get some rest amid the chaos when, suddenly, calls began issuing from the Israeli military calling on those within the hospital to leave.
She said they did not even specify where to flee.
"My message to the world that is in a deep slumber, where are you going to find God? Where is Qatar, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Turkey, where are you all," she said.
"Are you all just watching this fountain of blood, children who are being butchered everyday... fear God, what are you all going to say to God?"
Hospitals targeted
The Israeli army and Shin Bet internal intelligence agency later claimed, without providing evidence, that they had targeted a Hamas “command and control complex” within al-Ahli hospital.
Israel has repeatedly struck hospitals across the Gaza Strip since the beginning of its assault on the enclave in October 2023.
The Palestinian health ministry warned earlier this week that hospitals and medical centres in Gaza were facing “dangerous and unprecedented” shortages of essential medicines as a result of Israel's blockade.
The ministry said that 37 percent of essential drugs and 59 percent of medical supplies were completely out of stock, along with 54 percent of medications used to treat cancer and blood diseases.
Emergency, surgical and intensive care units had been operating with severely depleted life-saving treatments, while around 80,000 diabetic patients and 110,000 with high blood pressure were no longer receiving care.
The ministry said Israel's siege that cut off Gaza from food, fuel and medicine, among other vital supplies, is worsening the crisis and creating “catastrophic” challenges for treating patients and the wounded.
A previous attack on al-Ahli hospital in October 2023 killed hundreds of people and led to international condemnations.
Israel initially denied responsibility for the attack. However, open-source analysts have pointed the finger at Israel, which has subsequently attacked dozens of other hospitals in Gaza.
The Palestinian health ministry condemned the latest strike on al-Ahli in a statement.
"The [Israeli] occupation has previously deliberately destroyed 34 hospitals, putting them out of service as part of a systematic plan to eliminate what remains of the health sector in the Gaza Strip," the ministry said in a statement.
"We condemn this heinous crime and hold the 'Israeli' occupation, the US administration and countries complicit in the genocide - such as the United Kingdom, Germany, and France - fully responsible for this heinous crime."