An Israeli air strike before dawn hit a hospital Northern Gaza Early Sunday, forcing patients to evacuate quickly after the staff said they had received a warning only 20 minutes before the attack.
The strike struck the Al-Ahili hospital in Gaza City. A patientA girl died during the evacuation because the medical staff could not provide urgent care, said the Ministry of Health managed by Hamas.
The health establishment, one of the rare functional hospitals of Gaza City, is led by the diocese of Jerusalem, which condemned the attack.
Jehad Alshrafi / AP
In a press release, the diocese said that twin strikes have damaged several buildings, including pharmacy and emergency services.
“Barely twenty minutes before the attack, the Israeli army ordered all patients, employees and displaced persons to immediately evacuate the hospital premises before its bombings,” the statement said. “We thank God that there was no injury or dead following the attack.”
The diocese said that the hospital had been hit five times since the war in November 2023 – “This time on the morning of the twigs on Sunday and the start of Holy Week.” The twigs on Sunday commemorates the entrance of Jesus to Jerusalem.
“We invite all governments and people of good will to intervene to stop all kinds of attacks on medical and humanitarian institutions,” he said. “We pray and call the end of this horrible war and the suffering of so many people.”
Jehad Alshrafi / AP 
Director of the Al-Ahli Hospital, Dr. Fadel Naim, said in a position on X that hospital damage would have an impact on more than 100 patients and dozens of medical staff.
Images of the consequences have shown the broken cement roof of the hospital, surrounded by debris. Dr. Munir al-Boursh, director general of the Ministry of Health, called on frightening evacuation, with people made in the streets in hospital beds.
“It was very scary for patients … We didn’t know what had happened,” he said. The Ministry of Health said that patients had since been transferred to three other Gaza City hospitals, including Shifa, Al-Quds and Kuwait Field Hospital.
Israel said that it had struck a command and control center used by Hamas at the hospital to plan and execute attacks on Israeli civilians and soldiers without providing evidence. Before the strike, he declared measures to be taken to mitigate damage, in particular by issuing warnings and using precise ammunition and air surveillance.
A few hours later, a separate strike on a car in Deir al -Balah in the center of Gaza, killed at least seven people – six brothers and their friend – according to the staff of the morgue of the Al -Aqsa Martyrs hospital, who received the bodies.
Abdel Kareem Hana / AP 
The Israeli army also said it had targeted another command and control center in Deir al-Balah when many Hamas activists were present and planned to attack Israeli soldiers. It was not linked to the car strike in the same area, in which the army said it was looking.
The strikes occurred a few hours after the Israeli Defense Minister said that military activity is growing quickly in Gaza and that people should evacuate “combat zones”. Israel also announced on Saturday the completion of the Morag corridor, cutting the southern city of Rafah from the rest of Gaza, the soldiers saying that it would soon extend “vigorously” in most small coastal territories.
Israel requires Hamas to publish 59 remaining hostages, 24 of which are considered alive and accept new conditions of ceasefire proposed.
In the past 24 hours, the Hamas Gaza Ministry of Health said 11 people had been killed and more than 100 injured.
Medical installations are often criticized in wars, but combatants generally represent incidents such as accidental or exceptional, as hospitals benefit from special protection under international law. During its 18 -month campaign in Gaza, Israel stood out by putting an open campaign on hospitals, besieging and attacking them, some on several occasions, as well as hitting several others in strikes while accusing Hamas of using them as a blanket for its fighters.
The war began after Hamas killed 1,200 people during its October 7, 2023, mainly civilians, and took 250 captive people, some of whom were finally released in cease-fire agreements. At least 41 hostages died in captivity.
Until now, more than 50,000 Palestinians in Gaza have been killed during the Israel reprisal offensive, according to the Ministry of Health, which does not make the difference between combatants and civilians in its count, but says that more than half of the dead are women and children.
