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October 7, 2023: Israel begins bombarding Gaza in retaliation to Hamas attacks
Israel resumes massive attacks on March 18, killing over 400 in a day — two months after ceasefire ending 15 months of relentless attacks began
Future governance of Gaza remains unclear as Trump suggests US takeover but Arab countries propose alternative plan, which UK, others back
Hamas and Israel exchange 25 hostages, bodies and 1,700 detainees in seven swaps
Over 50,000 Palestinians, 400 Israeli soldiers dead; nearly all of Gaza displaced
Multi-billion dollar challenges ahead to reconstruct decimated enclave
At least 37 people have been killed in Israeli attacks across Gaza, medical sources told Al Jazeera reports.
Of those, 25 were killed in areas in the central and southern Gaza Strip.
Dr Mohammed Mustafa, an emergency physician who left Gaza just days ago, tells Al Jazeera that Al-Ahli Hospital is very small and was never designed to handle mass casualties.
Mustafa, who was working at the hospital, said when Al-Shifa Hospital was destroyed, it forced Al-Ahli Hospital to become the focal hospital in Gaza City.
Speaking to Al Jazeera from Amman, Jordan, he said when he was at al-Ahli, they could have up to 150 patients arriving at once.
“The emergency department that’s just been destroyed is a 5×15 metre department, it’s very, very small,” he said, adding that it was the only emergency department “functioning for almost close to a million people living in the area”.
He said his colleagues had told him the pharmacy had also been destroyed, as had the blood bank and that one child with traumatic brain injury who was on a ventilator died because the medical staff did not have enough time to get an oxygen cylinder before Israeli forces struck the hospital.
At least 32 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks across Gaza, medical sources told Al Jazeera.
Israeli warplanes hit al-Ahli Hospital in northern Gaza, Deir el-Balah in the central part of the enclave and Khan Younis in the south today.
Al Jazeera correspondents on the ground are reporting that two Palestinians have been killed in the Israeli shelling of al-Mawasi in the southern Gaza Strip.
Israel has designated al-Mawasi a humanitarian or “safe” zone, but has regularly attacked it throughout the conflict.
Elsewhere, one Palestinian was killed and several were wounded after an Israeli air attack on a group of civilians in Beit Lahiya, according to Wafa.
The Palestine Red Crescent Society has said that a medic who had been missing since an Israeli attack on ambulances in Gaza last month is currently being held by Israeli authorities, AFP reports.
“Asaad al-Nsasrah is being held by the Israeli occupation authorities. His fate had remained unknown since he was targeted along with other PRCS medics in Rafah,” PRCS said in a statement, referring to the attack that left 15 medics and rescuers dead.
The Israeli military says its air force has intercepted a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip, and that no injuries have been reported, Al Jazeera reports.
Husam Zomlot, the head of the Palestinian mission to the UK, has shared a video online of the aftermath of the Israeli strikes on al-Ahli Arab Hospital, Al Jazeera reports.
He said the attack was “not a one-off”, adding that “the bombardment of the Anglican Hospital has two goals: Destroying the last remaining and partially operating hospital in Gaza city, and, on Palm Sunday, targeting the remaining Palestinian Christian presence in Gaza.”
British Foreign Minister David Lammy condemned Israel’s attacks on medical facilities in Gaza after two Israeli missiles hit a building inside a Gaza hospital, Reuters reports.
“Israel’s attacks on medical facilities have comprehensively degraded access to healthcare in Gaza,” Lammy said in a short post on social media. “Al-Ahli Hospital has been attacked repeatedly since the conflict began. These deplorable attacks must end. Diplomacy, not more bloodshed, is how we will achieve a lasting peace.”
The Israeli military said it intercepted a projectile that was identified as crossing into Israeli territory from Gaza, AFP.
“Following the sirens that sounded at 15:58 (1258 GMT) in Reim, one projectile that was identified crossing into Israeli territory from Gaza was intercepted by the IAF (air force). No injuries were reported,” the military said.
Qatar says the Israeli attack on the last functioning hospital in northern Gaza was a “horrific massacre and a heinous crime against civilians” that constituted a grave violation of international humanitarian law, Al Jazeera reports.
Qatar’s foreign ministry warned about the collapse of the health system in Gaza and the expansion of the cycle of violence across the region and said the international community must assume its responsibilities in protecting civilians.
It reaffirmed Qatar’s backing of the establishment of an independent Palestinian state on the 1967 borders with occupied East Jerusalem as its capital.
The damage caused by the explosion at a UN building in Gaza’s Deir el-Balah last month that killed a European staffer and wounded several others was reportedly consistent with two Israeli tank rounds, Al Jazeera reports citing a report by the Washington Post.
The Israeli-made M339 high-explosive, multipurpose round was likely left by the fragments found at the scene, the Washington Post reported after speaking with multiple international experts.
After the attack, the UN significantly downsized its presence in Gaza, as the Israeli military continues to blockade all aid and attack the enclave.
The UN said Israel was behind the attack, but the Israeli army denied responsibility.
The Civil Defence in Gaza has released what it calls a message to the international community, Al Jazeera reports.
“Many wounded have been killed under the rubble of their homes, which the occupation destroyed over their heads without prior warning,” it said in a statement on its Telegram channel.
“Our crews were unable to save their lives due to the occupation’s insistence on preventing the entry of rescue equipment and heavy machinery into the Strip, amid your disturbing silence.”
Hundreds of Israeli settlers have stormed the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, Islam’s third-holiest site, in occupied East Jerusalem under the protection of Israeli forces, Al Jazeera Arabic reports citing local sources.
Settlers are Israeli citizens who live illegally on private Palestinian land in the West Bank.
The Baptist Church in Jerusalem and the Middle East has issued a statement saying the attack on al-Ahli Hospital destroyed the two-storey Genetic Laboratory, damaged the Pharmacy and Emergency Department buildings, and caused collateral damage to surrounding structures, including the St. Philip’s church building, Al Jazeera reports.
“The Diocese of Jerusalem is appalled,” it said, adding that the hospital had been bombed “for the fifth time since the beginning of the war in 2023 – and this time was on the morning of Palm Sunday and the beginning of Holy Week”.
It added: “We call upon all governments and people of goodwill to intervene to stop all kinds of attacks on medical and humanitarian institutions.”
The Israeli military has used its routine justification for putting the last functioning hospital in northern Gaza out of service, Al Jazeera reports.
Without providing any evidence, it said that it had worked with the Shin Bet internal security agency to bomb the al-Ahli Hospital “that was used by the Hamas terrorist organisation” to “plan and execute terrorist plots”.
The military once again accused Hamas of “exploiting civilian buildings and the civilian population” for its operations.
International humanitarian law states that health establishments and units, including hospitals, should not be attacked. This protection is also granted to the wounded and sick as well as to medical employees and means of transport.
Israeli forces have forcibly removed some Palestinian families from their homes on the outskirts of the Nur Shams refugee camp, east of Tulkarem in the occupied West Bank, according to Wafa.
The Palestinian news agency, citing local sources, said residents were given a final deadline of 7am (9am PKT) to leave their homes, as Israeli forces fired weapons intending to intimidate them.
The Israeli raid on the Nur Shams refugee camp has been ongoing for more than two months.
The armed wing of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad says its forces “seized two Zionist quadcopter drones”, Al Jazeera reports.
The drones were taken while carrying out reconnaissance missions in central Gaza, the second-largest Palestinian armed group in the enclave after the military wing of Hamas, said in a short statement.
The Palestinian Islamic Jihad says the Israeli military first caused panic among patients and civilians sheltering at al-Ahli Hospital by sending them a warning before bombing them in the dark of night, Al Jazeera reports.
“This heinous aggression is part of a systematic series of attacks targeting hospitals, schools, shelters and tents for the displaced in Gaza, within the context of a systematic war of extermination that violates all humanitarian and moral standards,” the group said.
Holding the US responsible for it, the PIJ said, “the international silence on Gaza is forcing it to become a graveyard for law and humanity”.
The Israeli military issued a warning to the residents of the Israeli side of the boundary with Gaza, warning them that they would hear massive explosions, Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud reports from Gaza City.
“Just hours after that warning, we woke up to a huge explosion that targeted al-Ahli Hospital.
“Two strikes completely destroyed the oxygen station, surgery and emergency departments,” he said. “Patients and medical staff inside the hospital were given a brief evacuation window.”
“It’s a scene that I’m trying to comprehend, as everybody else is.
“Patients connected to tubes and medical equipment inside the hospital were forced to evacuate, which led to tragedy outside.
One child was disconnected from medical equipment and pushed outside the hospital. The child died outside because of the cold weather during the night, Mahmoud reported.
Al Jazeera Arabic reports that seven Palestinians have been killed in the Israeli strike on a vehicle west of the city of Deir el-Balah.
The European Union has expressed concern over the deteriorating humanitarian conditions in Gaza, deploring Israel’s renewed offensive on the Strip and urging it to lift the total blockade it has imposed since March 2, Al Jazeera reports.
In a statement, the bloc also condemned Israel’s killing of 15 paramedics in Gaza on March 23 and called for accountability.
It added, “The EU is extremely concerned by reports of the humanitarian situation in Gaza, which suggest that food supplies brought in during the ceasefire are running out. Under International Humanitarian Law, humanitarian aid must reach civilians in need.”
Al Jazeera reports more from Razan al-Nahhas, the emergency doctor in Gaza.
She said at least three people, including a 12 year old boy with a head injury, have been reported dead following their forced evacuation from the Al Ahli Hospital in Gaza City.
“He was on oxygen, as were the two other patients, and the family basically walked with them to a nearby hospital, a very small facility with no capacity for the number of patients head their way. And they [the patients] arrived dead,” said al-Nahhas, who is in the city of Deir el-Balah.
“There’s so many patients on the streets. Some mat have made out to Al Shifa at this point. But I can’t even imagine the scene of patients and their family members scattered in the streets, trying to find their way to a place for medical care. I’m certain that many of them will not make it.”
Al-Nahhas said many of those at al-Ahli have severe injuries.
“The majority of patients that are admitted to this hospital are patients that are victims of these traumatic, explosive injuries, unfortunately,” she said.
These include patients with multiple amputated limbs and patients with traumatic injuries to their chest, abdomen or head, as well as “a lot of burn patients”.
“They’re very high-risk patients that need to be closely monitored, not lying or scrambling in the streets trying to find their way to another medical facility.”
The Palestinian group has described Israel’s attack on the al-Ahli Hospital as a “new war crime” and said that the Israeli military had no regard for humanitarian laws and norms, Al Jazeera reports.
It said it also holds the US responsible for the “brutal crime”.
This is because Israel is working under the US’s diplomatic cover, with Washington blocking all international mechanisms for accountability, it added.
The Government Media Office in Gaza has slammed the bombing of the hospital in Gaza City, which is also known as the Baptist Hospital, calling it a “heinous” and “terrible” crime, Al Jazeera reports.
In a statement, the office called the al-Ahli Hospital “one of the oldest and most important health institutions” in Gaza.
“The Baptist Hospital, which includes many specialized departments, had hundreds of patients and wounded, medical staff and escorts at the moment of targeting, and provides health services to more than a million Palestinians in the governorates of Gaza and northern Gaza,” it said.
Israeli forces have already “deliberately destroyed 34 hospitals” in Gaza, the office said, adding that the continued attacks on medical facilities are a “flagrant violation of all international charters and the Geneva Conventions prohibiting the targeting of medical facilities”.
Al Jazeera Arabic reports that Israeli forces have bombed the al-Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza City as patients were being evacuated.
They say two airstrikes destroyed the hospital’s emergency unit, the main entrance and the facility holding medical oxygen for intensive care patients.
The attack came as doctors and nurses have been scrambling to get hundreds of patients out of the facility in the middle of the night.
