Hospital targeted by Israel as Gaza attacks intensify

Israel has struck a hospital in northern Gaza, forcing patients to evacuate as attacks intensified across the Strip. The pre-dawn strike on Sunday hit Al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza City, after Israel issued an evacuation warning, according to Gaza’s ministry of health. One patient died during the evacuation because medical staff were unable to provide urgent care, it said.

The hospital, run by the Diocese of Jerusalem, was attacked on Palm Sunday, which commemorates Jesus’s entry into Jerusalem. Hours later, a separate strike on a car in Deir al-Balah in central Gaza killed at least seven people, according to staff at the morgue which received the bodies. Israel said it struck a command and control centre used by Hamas at the hospital to plan and execute attacks against Israeli civilians and soldiers.



It said that prior to the strike, steps were taken to mitigate harm, including issuing warnings, and using precise munitions and aerial surveillance. The strikes came hours after Israel’s defence minister said military activity would rapidly expand across Gaza and that people would have to evacuate from “fighting zones”. Israel also announced on Saturday the completion of the Morag corridor, cutting off the southern city of Rafah from the rest of Gaza, with the military saying it would soon expand “vigorously” in most of the small coastal territory.

Israeli authorities have vowed to pressure Hamas to release the remaining 59 hostages, 24 believed to be alive, and accept proposed new ceasefire terms. Director of Al-Ahli Hospital, Dr Fadel Naim, said they were warned of the attack beforehand. In a post on social media site X, he wrote that the emergency room, pharmacy and surrounding buildings were severely damaged, impacting more than 100 patients and dozens of medical staff.

The health ministry said the strike destroyed the ward for outpatients and laboratories and damaged the emergency ward..