SUNDAY April 13, 2025 |
By thenewsdesk.ng
An Israeli airstrike has destroyed the intensive care and surgery departments of Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital, the last functioning medical facility in Gaza City, according to Hamas officials.
Video footage circulating online shows large flames and thick smoke billowing from the two-storey hospital building as patients and staff, some still in beds, scrambled to escape. The incident occurred before dawn, with social media footage showing people, including displaced civilians seeking refuge in the hospital courtyard, fleeing in panic.
A local journalist working at the hospital said the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) had contacted a doctor in the emergency unit, issuing an urgent evacuation order.
“All patients and displaced people must go out to a safe distance,” the officer reportedly told the doctor.
“You have only 20 minutes to leave.”
The civil emergency service has so far reported no casualties from the attack.
The Hamas-run government media office condemned the strike, calling it a “horrific crime”. “Israel is committing a horrific crime by targeting Al-Ahli Hospital, which houses hundreds of patients and medical staff,” it said.
Al-Ahli was a small private hospital before the war, but has become Gaza City’s sole remaining functional medical centre, following the destruction of Al-Shifa Hospital and others across northern Gaza.
The IDF has said it is reviewing reports of the incident.
In October 2023, the same hospital was previously hit in an attack that killed hundreds. At the time, Palestinian officials blamed an Israeli airstrike, while Israel attributed it to a misfired rocket launched by Palestinian Islamic Jihad, a claim the group denied.
Israel launched its ongoing military campaign against Hamas following the 7 October 2023 attacks, in which about 1,200 Israelis were killed and 251 taken hostage.
According to the Hamas-run health ministry, more than 50,933 people have been killed in Gaza since the offensive began, including 1,563 deaths since 18 March 2025, when Israel resumed large-scale operations in the Strip.
