Gaza hospital hit by Israeli strike, Hamas says

An Israeli strike has destroyed the intensive care and surgical procedure departments of the primary medical facility in Gaza Metropolis, Hamas has mentioned.

Video posted on-line appeared to indicate big flames and smoke rising from Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital after missiles hit a two-storey constructing. Individuals, together with some sufferers nonetheless in hospital beds, had been filmed dashing away from the location.

An area journalist mentioned the Israel Protection Forces (IDF) had phoned a health care provider and given an evacuation warning.

Hamas referred to as the strike a “horrific crime” by Israel, which has mentioned it’s trying into the experiences.

No casualties have been reported, in keeping with the civil emergency service.

The native journalist, who was working on the hospital, mentioned an Israeli military officer referred to as a health care provider working within the emergency division and requested them to instantly evacuate the hospital.

“All sufferers and displaced folks should exit to a protected distance,” the officer reportedly mentioned.

“You could have solely 20 minutes to depart.”

Footage on social media confirmed employees and sufferers leaving the constructing whereas it was nonetheless darkish outdoors.

Dozens of Palestinians, together with girls and kids, had been additionally seen fleeing from a courtyard contained in the hospital the place that they had been in search of shelter.

Al-Ahli – a small medical facility earlier than the conflict – is now the one hospital nonetheless functioning in Gaza Metropolis following the destruction of Al-Shifa medical advanced and hospitals within the northern a part of the Strip.

In its assertion, the Hamas-run authorities media workplace condemned the assault.

Israel “is committing a horrific crime by concentrating on Al-Ahli Hospital, which homes a whole lot of sufferers and medical employees”, it mentioned.

In October 2023, an assault on the identical hospital killed a whole lot of individuals.

Palestinian officers blamed an Israeli strike for the blast. Israel mentioned the blast was attributable to a failed rocket launch by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad militant group, which denied duty.

The Israeli army launched a marketing campaign to destroy Hamas in response to an unprecedented cross-border assault on 7 October 2023, wherein about 1,200 Israelis had been killed and 251 others had been taken hostage.

Greater than 50,933 folks have been killed in Gaza since then, in keeping with the territory’s Hamas-run well being ministry.

Of these, 1,563 have been killed since 18 March, when Israel restarted its offensive within the Gaza Strip, the ministry mentioned, the ministry mentioned.