An Israeli air strike early on Sunday destroyed part of the last fully functioning hospital in Gaza City as the military expands and intensifies its campaign across the territory.
No casualties were reported from the strike, but the Anglican church in Jerusalem – which runs the Al-Ahli Baptist hospital – stated that a boy with a head injury died in the rushed evacuation of patients.
The church said that the hospital had received only 20 minutes warning ahead of the strike and was forced to take patients into the streets.
Parts of the hospital, including the emergency room and reception area, were extensively damaged.
There was also damage to the adjoining St Philip’s church, according to video received by CNN.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) claimed they had struck “a command-and-control center used by Hamas” in the attack, without offering proof.
They said steps had been taken ahead of the strike to mitigate harm to civilians, a claim that Hamas has denied regarding military use of the hospital.
The Israeli military is extending its ground operations deep into Gaza, creating a large buffer zone between the Strip and Israeli territory.
This has resulted in hundreds of thousands of civilians being pushed into an ever-smaller area along the Mediterranean coast.
In the south, the military announced it seized the Morag corridor, cutting off Rafah from the rest of Gaza.
On Sunday night, the defense ministry stated the IDF had “completed the occupation of the Morag axis” and that the northern border area in Gaza was also being expanded as part of Israel’s “security zone.”
“The main goal is to exert heavy pressure on Hamas in favor of returning to the outline of releasing the hostages – and the more Hamas persists in its refusal, the more IDF activity will intensify,” said Defense Minister Israel Katz.
According to the United Nations, roughly 400,000 people have been ordered to move over the past three weeks.
Throughout the conflict, hospitals have often been used as places of shelter.
One patient in the Al-Ahli Baptist hospital, Mohammed Abu Naser, told CNN he was still inside when it was struck.
“We expected that we would all die inside the hospital… I have no treatment or anything right now.
We have no option but to travel abroad for treatment,” Abu Naser added.
The Palestinian Ministry of Health announced that the hospital was temporarily closed and directed people to three other hospitals.
The Jerusalem diocese condemned the strike, stating that in addition to the damage to the emergency department, the two-storey Genetic Laboratory was demolished.
The diocese mentioned that this was the fifth time the hospital had been struck since October 2023.
The World Health Organization (WHO) indicated that the now “out of service” hospital’s pharmacy was also destroyed and that it was forced to move 50 patients to other hospitals, while 40 critical patients could not be moved.
Hospital Director Fadel Naim stated that the child who died during the evacuation succumbed to “lack of oxygen and severe cold.”
As health facilities across Gaza come under pressure from a lack of medicine and equipment, the WHO stated that two missions – to Al-Ahli and the Indonesian hospital – had been denied by the Israeli authorities.
In a post on X, the organization 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.”
Samer Attar, an American doctor with the Palestinian American Bridge working in the Al-Ahli hospital, told CNN that the attack had created a “desperate situation.”
“The people here are exhausted, they’re hungry, they’re tired, they’re wounded, not just physically but also psychically,” he said.
Al-Ahli is one of the few functioning hospitals across Gaza, treating up to 1,000 patients a day.
An Israeli siege left Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City – the largest in the territory – in ruins last year, and it began accepting some patients months later.
The strike drew international condemnation, including from the UK, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia.
In addition to the hospital strike, the Israeli military claims its forces are operating in several areas of Gaza.
The IDF stated on Sunday that it attacked a weapons storage compound in northern Gaza early that same day and announced that over the previous 48 hours, its air force had struck more than “90 terror targets belonging to terrorist organizations throughout the Gaza Strip.”
Video footage also captured another airstrike on a building in the area of Deir al-Balah in central Gaza.
The IDF asserted that the building was another Hamas control center and that, at the time it was struck, “numerous Hamas terrorists were operating from within the compound.”
In a later statement, the military claimed to have killed “Ubayd Allah Na’im al-Hadhud Musa, who served as the deputy head of a Hamas sniper cell in the area of Deir al-Balah.”
Dr. Khalil Al-Daqran, spokesman for Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, shared with CNN that three bodies had been brought to the hospital after the strike.
He mentioned that a separate strike on a vehicle in the same area on Sunday killed seven people, six of whom were brothers.
Another strike later that day appeared to have hit the Deir al-Balah municipal building, killing a senior member of the Hamas-run justice ministry, according to local journalists.
The Israeli military meanwhile stated it intercepted another rocket fired from Gaza.
In response, it issued another evacuation order for several areas of Khan Younis in southern Gaza, stating on X: “We will attack with extreme force every area from which rockets are launched.”
Israel asserts it is expanding its campaign in Gaza as part of efforts to force Hamas to release its remaining hostages.
One of these hostages, American-Israeli Edan Alexander, appealed directly to President Donald Trump in the second proof-of-life video of the captive released by Hamas on Saturday.
Alexander – who is likely speaking under duress in the three-minute propaganda video – expresses his belief that Trump could successfully negotiate his release from Gaza.
While it’s unclear when the video was recorded, Alexander mentioned being in Gaza for 551 days, suggesting it was filmed quite recently.
The video’s release coincided with the eve of the Jewish holiday of Passover.
The Hostage and Missing Families Forum has asked Jewish families to leave an empty place setting for the hostages to mark their time in captivity.
“Each moment grows more unbearable. You can see it in his face – his fear, his desperation,” Alexander’s parents, Yael and Adi, expressed on Sunday.
“President Trump, our hope and trust rest with you now.”
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