Israel destroys a hospital in Northern Gaza as Palm Sunday attacks intensify – National

Deir al-Balah, Gaza (AP) – Israeli strikes attacked a hospital, a municipal building, a house and a vehicle on Sunday, killing at least 21 people, including children, and Israel vowed to expand its safe presence in the small coastal zone.

The dawn strike at Al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza is the latest in several attacks on the last large hospital, which provides important health care in northern Gaza.

The hospital director Dr. Fadel Naim said the emergency room, pharmacy and surrounding buildings were severely damaged, affecting more than 100 patients and dozens of employees. He said in his post on X that they had warned in advance.

Gaza Health Ministry said a patient, a girl, died during the evacuation because staff were unable to provide urgent care.

Strike on Palm Sunday

The hospital is run by the Diocese of Jerusalem, which condemned the attacks and said in a statement that it took place “the beginning of Palm Sunday, Holy Week, the holiest week of the Christian year.” Palm commemorates Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem on Sunday.

Israel said it attacked Hamas’ command and control center used by the hospital and provided no evidence. Hamas denied the allegations in a statement.

Video from the Associated Press shows that the hospital's troubled roof is surrounded by debris. Dr. Munir Al-Boursh, Director-General of the Ministry of Health, said the patient was taken away in the bed and slept on the street.

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“There is no safe security. There is no safe security inside the hospital or in Gaza in the whole of it,” said Mohammad Abu Nasser, the injured man, who sat outdoors in bed and watched the destruction.

The hospital temporarily discontinued its services and the patient was transferred to other hospitals in Gaza City, the Ministry of Health said. Since the war began, Palestinian aid group Medical Aid has called it the fifth attack of the hospital.

Under international law, hospitals have special protections. Israel sieges and raids several times and accused Hamas of using it as cover for fighter planes.

Last month, Israel attacked the Nasser Hospital of Khan Younis, the largest southern Gaza state, killing two people and causing a fire, the Ministry of Health said. The facility was overwhelmed by the deaths and wounded people when Israel ended a two-month ceasefire last month with a surprise air strike.

Charity worker killed

A few hours later, a car in Deir Al-Balah in central Gaza killed at least seven people, including six brothers, according to staff at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital. The youngest brother is 10 years old.

Their father, Ibrahim Abu Mahadi, said his sons worked for a charity that distributes food to Palestinians. “Because what crime did they have been killed?” he said.

A reporter from the Associated Press saw the bloody car in chaos as relatives cried on the body.

An air strike on Sunday afternoon hit a house in a refugee camp in the northern Gaza city of Jabalia, killing at least seven people, including two women, according to the Indonesian hospital. A pregnant woman was rescued from the ruins.

Another strike by Deir Al-Balah attacked the municipal building on Sunday afternoon and killed at least three people, according to the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital. At least three people on strike were killed in Khan Yunis, according to staff at Nasser Hospital.

The Israeli military said in a statement that over the past 48 hours, it has attacked more than 90 radical targets, including command and control centers, tunnels and weapons. The military also said it had intercepted projectiles fired from Gaza.

The war began with Hamas-led militants killing 1,200 people, mainly civilians, and capturing 250 people in the October 7, 2023 attack on southern Israel. Many people were eventually released by a ceasefire deal.

Israeli authorities vowed to put pressure on Hamas to release the remaining 59 hostages, 24 people believed to be alive and accepted the proposed new ceasefire clause. It cut off all supplies from Gaza a month ago.

According to the Gaza Ministry of Health, more than 50,000 Palestinians were killed in Israel's retaliatory offensive, which did not distinguish between combatants and civilians, but said more than half of the dead were women and children.

Madi reported on Cairo.

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