Israeli strike hospital is located in northern Gaza, capturing key parts of the south
The Israeli military attacked and destroyed part of a hospital in northern Gaza early Sunday morning, and shortly afterwards told patients and staff to evacuate the site. The attack came after the Israeli government announced that its forces fighting elsewhere in the territory expanded their occupation of the Southern Gaza Strip, which stagnated the links between the two strategically located cities in Palestine for hours.
No one was killed in an attack on an Arab hospital but was killed in the evacuation due to evacuation due to evacuation, according to a statement from Jerusalem, which oversees the medical center. The statement added that the strike destroyed a laboratory and damaged the pharmacy, emergency department and church at the hospital compound in Zeitoun.
The hospital has become one of the last pillars of Gaza's health care system, and medical centers were frequently damaged and besieged during the war, which began with the Hamas-led attack on Israel in October 2023. The World Health Organization reported last month that 33 of the 36 hospitals in Gaza were damaged during the war, and only 21 hospitals were still in partial functions. The WHO also warned on Saturday that hospitals in Gaza faced an imminent drug shortage as Israel had locked down six weeks of aid.
Less than two weeks after the war, the AHLI Arab Hospital compound was attacked when a missile hit a parking lot at the scene where dozens of displaced families were sheltering. Hamas blamed Israel for the strike, which Israel said was caused by a group of people allied by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad. U.S. intelligence officials later said they had “high confidence” in their Israeli accounts.
Israeli military acknowledged responsibility for the latest strike on Sunday said there was no evidence that the site was the Hamas command center. Both military and Anglican churches say Israeli soldiers called the hospital to order evacuation before the strike. Neither the hospital authorities nor Hamas answered questions about whether Hamas fighters used the hospital.
In another development, the Israeli Defense Minister announced on Saturday that it had occupied a strategic East-West access in southern Gaza. This cut off the ties between Rafa and Khan Yunis, two major cities in southern Gaza, and expanded Israel's occupation in the enclave.
Israel called the road the “Morag Corridor” after Israeli troops evacuated Jewish settlements in the area that was disbanded when Israeli troops evacuated in 2005.
Defense Minister Katz said Israel placed the entire area between the corridor and the Gaza-Egypt border in “Israel's security zone”. The military said it revolves around the city of Rafa, but has not established operational controls for each community.
In March, Israeli forces controlled only a piece of land on the border between southern Gaza and Egypt and Israel before a ceasefire with Hamas in March. But they began to expand their control in early April as Israeli leaders were talking about putting pressure on Hamas to release about 60 hostages (some believed to be dead) still in the enclave.
Ameera Hourouda Report in Doha, Qatar.
