13 April 2025
This attack is only the latest incident in the Israeli military’s systematic destruction of Gaza’s healthcare system and other infrastructure essential to Palestinian survival, as an apparent part of what an independent UN Commission of Inquiry has found to be a policy of “extermination”. Since October 2023, the Israeli military has damaged 33 out of Gaza’s 36 hospitals, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). These attacks are fuelled by the Israeli military’s ongoing total impunity for serious violations of international law. There must be thorough, prompt, and independent investigations into apparent serious violations of international humanitarian law, and perpetrators must be held fully accountable.
At dawn on 13 April 2025, the Israeli military gave Al Ahli Hospital less than 20 minutes to evacuate, forcing staff and patients – many of them critically ill – out at a moment’s notice. With nowhere to go, they were left lying on the streets near the hospital. Israeli forces then targeted the hospital’s emergency department, almost destroying it and causing significant damage to the reception area, laboratory, pharmacy, and physiotherapy unit.
Dr. Ismail Al-Qudra, who was present at the hospital during the attack, told Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP), “Last night, at around 2:00 a.m., some patients received phone calls from the Israeli army ordering them to evacuate the hospital immediately. I was startled by the sound of two loud missiles striking the hospital. We rushed out and saw that the reception and emergency departments were destroyed. The laboratory building was also destroyed, including its equipment and contents, which are valued at over $3 million. The hospital also lost its only X-ray machine”.
Dr. Tayseer al-Tanna, a vascular surgeon working at Al Ahli recalled, “We were informed to evacuate, and the team managed to move patients to areas that were slightly further from the blast. Still, the hospital is nearly out of service today. Whether we’ll be able to resume operations in the coming hours or days remains uncertain. But for now, it’s extremely difficult to continue working”.
Dr. Yousef Al-Haddad, a Physiotherapy Specialist at Al Ahli Hospital, added, “We are in complete shock. As I speak to you, I’m surrounded by piles of rubble and destruction. The laboratory was the only one in Gaza that provided a range of tests unavailable in any other hospital—and now it’s been entirely lost. Emergency and reception services were shared between the Al Ahli Hospital and Al-Shifa Hospital, with our hospital taking the lead as it was the only hospital equipped with a CT scanner. Now, following last night’s attack, these services have entirely ceased. This will undoubtedly increase the pressure on Al-Shifa Hospital, which is already operating with a smaller capacity”.
This was the fifth attack on Al Ahli Hospital since October 2023. It must be the last.
On 23 March 2025, the Israeli army killed eight Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) paramedics and other first responders in Gaza, further evidencing a consistent pattern by Israeli forces of targeting health workers and facilities. The Ministry of Health reports that the Israeli military has killed more than 1,300 health workers. According to WHO, between October 2023 and 14 March 2025, there were 670 attacks on health care in Gaza, affecting 122 health facilities and 170 ambulances. Hospitals, medical staff, and civilians are protected under international law. Attacks on hospitals constitute potential war crimes.
MAP calls on the international community to take immediate action to protect Gaza’s hospitals and medical personnel. There must be an immediate and permanent ceasefire, an end to all arms transfers to Israel, and full accountability for repeated violations of international law, including the deliberate targeting of hospitals. Israel must be held to its legal obligation to repair the destruction it has caused to Gaza’s health infrastructure and allow unimpeded humanitarian access in line with the orders of the International Court of Justice.
The UK and other states must cease any and all complicity in Israel’s serious violations of international law, and ensure they are not allies to atrocities. Anything less enables continued impunity and the destruction of the conditions essential for the survival of Palestinians in Gaza.