Gaza: Israeli forces bombed Al-Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza City on April 13, 2025, causing massive destruction and forcing medics and critically ill patients to flee.
The hospital, one of the last functioning in northern Gaza, was struck by two missiles that destroyed vital parts of the facility, including its emergency department, lab, pharmacy, and oxygen supply systems.
The attack occurred early Sunday morning, with reports from medics confirming that at least three people, including a child on oxygen, died during the chaotic evacuation.
One of the missiles reportedly hit after a call from someone identifying as Israeli security warned of the attack. Al-Ahli Hospital was sheltering hundreds of patients when it was struck.
Images show hospital workers and family members trying to care for vulnerable patients in the streets, searching desperately for alternative care facilities.
Many of these patients were high-risk, needing constant medical attention, now left to die in open streets. Gaza’s authorities condemned the bombing, calling it a violation of international law and a direct attack on a historic medical institution.
The Government Media Office in Gaza called it a “heinous” war crime, while the group Hamas blamed both Israel and the United States for the strike.This attack follows a continued pattern of Israeli bombardments targeting medical facilities in Gaza.
Since the war began on October 7, 2023, Israel has hit at least 36 hospitals. Israel has claimed it targeted al-Ahli Hospital, the last functioning hospital in northern Gaza, alleging it was being used by Hamas for planning operations — but provided no evidence to support the accusation.
International observers and medical professionals on the ground strongly rejected this justification, stressing the deadly impact of the strike on civilians who had nowhere else to turn for care.
The Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) has condemned the Israeli military's bombing of al-Ahli Hospital, calling it part of a "systematic war of extermination" against Gaza's civilians.
In a statement, the group said patients and displaced civilians were first terrorized by warning messages, only to be struck in the dark of night — a move they labeled as an escalation in criminality.
The background to the renewed violence stems from the collapse of a temporary ceasefire between Israel and Hamas on March 18, 2025.Since then, over 1,560 Palestinians have been killed, including more than 500 children, as per Gaza’s Ministry of Health.The total death toll since the war began in October 2023 has reached 50,933, with more than 116,000 injured.
The bombing of Al-Ahli marks a dramatic escalation and further cripples Gaza’s already overwhelmed health infrastructure.It comes alongside forced displacement orders in other parts of the Strip, and intensified bombardment around Rafah and Khan Younis, isolating entire regions and leaving thousands with no safe refuge.
