Israeli Strike Hits Hospital in Gaza City, According to Hamas

Israeli Strike Hits Hospital in Gaza City, According to Hamas .

Israeli missiles have reportedly damaged a prominent hospital in Gaza, as stated by the area's civil defense agency and medical personnel. There were no immediate reports of injuries from the strike. The Al-Ahli hospital in Gaza City was hit by two Israeli missiles early Sunday morning, causing destruction to surgical facilities and an oxygen generation station for intensive care units, according to the Hamas-run civil defense agency.

The agency noted that the attack occurred "minutes after the [Israeli] army's warning to evacuate the building, which housed patients, the injured, and their companions." Under international law, hospitals are supposed to be protected, yet they have been repeatedly targeted by Israeli strikes in Gaza since the country launched its military offensive against Hamas following deadly militant attacks in Israel on October 7, 2023.

The Israeli military has claimed that Hamas utilizes hospitals as operational centers for planning and executing attacks, a statement that the militant group strongly refutes. In a statement regarding the incident, the media office of the Hamas-run government denounced the strike as a "heinous and filthy crime." They accused Israel of "deliberately destroying and incapacitating 34 hospitals as part of a systematic effort to dismantle the remaining healthcare infrastructure in the Gaza Strip." Medics confirmed that the building was evacuated following the warning issued by the Israeli army. Earlier Deadly Incident A previous explosion in the parking lot of the same hospital in October 2023 resulted in numerous fatalities. Palestinian officials attributed the deaths to an Israeli airstrike, while Israel maintained that the blast was due to a failed rocket launch by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad militant group, which denied any involvement. The Israeli military has informed AFP that it is investigating the incident from Sunday, amidst escalating hostilities in the enclave following the collapse of a ceasefire in mid-March. On March 28, the World Health Organization reported that only 22 out of Gaza's 36 hospitals were partially operational.
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