Israeli Missiles Strike Gaza Hospital, Patients Evacuated

Sunday 13 April 2025 - 07:39

By: Zahouani Ilham

Israeli Missiles Strike Gaza Hospital, Patients Evacuated

In a new escalation of violence, two Israeli missiles struck a building within the Al-Ahli Arab Baptist Hospital in Gaza on Sunday, destroying its emergency and reception departments and causing structural damage to nearby areas. Medical personnel reported that patients had to be urgently evacuated after someone claiming to be from Israeli security warned of the imminent attack. Fortunately, no casualties were reported by civil emergency teams.

According to the Israeli military, the hospital compound was being used by Hamas operatives to plan assaults, and steps were taken to minimize civilian harm before the strike. Meanwhile, the Palestinian foreign ministry and Hamas denounced the attack, accusing Israel of systematically targeting the Gaza healthcare system.

Social media images, not independently verified by Reuters, showed panicked evacuations, with some people dragging patients out on hospital beds. This is not the first time Al-Ahli hospital has come under fire; in October 2023, an explosion in its parking area sparked international controversy. While Hamas blamed an Israeli airstrike, Israel said the blast was caused by a misfired rocket from Palestinian Islamic Jihad—a claim later supported by Human Rights Watch.

In other incidents on Sunday, airstrikes reportedly killed the police chief in Khan Younis and at least eight other individuals, including a woman, in northern Gaza. These developments come as part of the broader conflict ignited by the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack on southern Israel, which left 1,200 dead and 251 taken hostage, according to Israeli data.