People check the destruction in the aftermath of an Israeli strike on the Al-Ahli hospital, also known as the Baptist or Ahli Arab hospital, in Gaza City on April 13, 2025. AFP
The strike occurred minutes after the Israeli military issued an evacuation warning, the agency said in a statement, adding that the bombing destroyed the hospital’s emergency department and oxygen generation unit for intensive care.
According to the official WAFA news agency, two missiles hit the hospital’s main building, igniting fires in the reception area, emergency and laboratory units, and the pharmacy.
Dozens of patients and wounded individuals were evacuated and left lying in the streets surrounding the hospital.
Munir Al-Bursh, Director General of Gaza’s Ministry of Health, described the aftermath as “catastrophic and beyond description,” stating, “We, along with the wounded and the sick, are now on the streets. The bombing hasn’t stopped — the airstrikes are ongoing.” He reported that one injured child, moved from the hospital on a bed, later died from trauma.
Al-Ahli was a key healthcare provider for more than one million residents in Gaza City and the northern governorates. Its destruction is a major blow to Gaza’s already devastated health system.
According to Gaza health officials, 34 hospitals across the territory have been destroyed or forced to shut down, alongside dozens of health clinics.
The Baptist Hospital was previously the site of a horrific massacre on 17 October 2023, in which more than 470 people were killed, including patients and displaced families sheltering on its grounds.
The Israeli occupation army renewed its deadly blockade on Gaza on 2 March, barring the entry of nutritional, medical, and humanitarian aid, thereby exacerbating the catastrophic conditions in the strip.
Despite repeated appeals from the United Nations (UN), the World Health Organization (WHO), and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), Israel has continued its siege, weaponizing starvation against over two million Palestinians in Gaza.
On 18 March, Israel unilaterally ended a two-month truce with Hamas, brokered by Egypt, Qatar and the US, to resume its genocidal war on the strip.
Since then, Israeli airstrikes on the strip have killed 1,560 Palestinians, bringing the total death toll since the outbreak of Israel's genocidal war on 7 October 2023 to at least 50,944 people, with more than 116,000 others injured, according to the latest figures from Gaza’s Ministry of Health.
On Sunday, Hamas condemned the latest strike, calling it a “new war crime” and accusing Israel of acting with impunity under US protection. The group warned that the destruction of the hospital’s emergency services and the displacement of its patients formed part of “a continuous series of brutal crimes.”
On Saturday, senior Hamas officials met with Egyptian mediators in Cairo as part of ongoing efforts — led by Egypt, Qatar, and the United States — to restore the Gaza ceasefire.
A Hamas official told AFP that the Palestinian group anticipated the meeting with Egyptian mediators would yield significant progress.
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