Occupation destroys Baptist hospital in Gaza, forcing it out of service
Two Zionist occupation missiles struck Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital in central Gaza early on Sunday, destroying the emergency and reception department and damaging other structures, amid ongoing air raids across different parts of the besieged enclave.
The attack comes after the occupation forces issued new displacement orders for residents of the central Nuseirat refugee camp as well as southern Khan Younis.
Medical staff at the scene confirmed that the hospital was forced out of service and can no longer receive victims of continued airstrikes.
The hospital, located in the Zeitoun neighbourhood of Gaza City, has been a vital lifeline for more than 1 million Palestinians in Gaza and North Gaza governorates, especially after the destruction of several major hospitals in the strip since October 2023.
The Gaza government media office condemned the attack and said in a statement that the Zionist occupation was deliberately destroying Gaza’s healthcare system.
“This cowardly aggression is not the first of its kind,” the office said, recalling the Oct. 17, 2023, bombing of the same hospital, which claimed the lives of 471 Palestinians, and injured hundreds of others.
“So far, 34 hospitals have been destroyed or forced out of service,” the office added.
With nearly all hospitals in Gaza either destroyed or severely crippled, Al-Ahli had been receiving dozens of wounded civilians daily since the occupation resumed its offensive on March 18, shattering the ceasefire and prisoner exchange agreement that took hold in January.
Separate strikes in the enclave on Sunday killed at least eight people in the north, according to the WAFA news agency, while another strike killed the head of a police station in Khan Younis, in the southern part of the besieged enclave.
On Saturday, the occupation announced completing the construction of what it calls the “Morag Corridor,” which cuts off the city of Rafah from the rest of Gaza, as it expanded its attacks on the southern part of the Strip. Moreover, the Zionist forces said they will expand the “Netzarim Corridor,” which divides the Strip into two parts.
The announcement came amid a barrage of drone attacks and artillery shelling on Khan Younis that killed dozens of people.
The occupation is preparing to incorporate Rafah, an area that makes up about one-fifth of the Gaza Strip, into a so-called buffer zone where Palestinians will be prohibited from entering, Anadolu news agency reported, citing media sources.
According to the source, the planned buffer zone spans approximately 75 square kilometres (29 square miles) and stretches between the “Philadelphi and Morag corridors”, encompassing Rafah and surrounding neighbourhoods.
At least 50,912 Palestinians were martyred and 115,981 wounded in the Zionist occupation’s genocidal war on the besieged enclave, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. Meanwhile, the Government Media Office updated its death toll to more than 61,700, saying thousands of people missing under the rubble are presumed dead.
