Israeli forces attacked and destroyed parts of a hospital in northern Gaza early Sunday morning shortly after telling patients and staff to evacuate the site. The attack comes hours after the Israeli government announced that troops fighting elsewhere on the territory would expand their occupation of the Southern Gaza Strip and cut links between the two strategically located Palestinian cities.
A statement released by the Church of England in Jerusalem, which oversees the medical centre, revealed that no one was killed in the attack on an Arab Arab hospital, but the child treated for head injuries died after being evacuated to evacuate. The strike destroyed the lab and damaged the pharmacy, emergency department and churches at Zeitoun’s hospital, the statement added.
The hospital has become one of the last mainstays of Gaza’s health care system. There, medical centres were frequently damaged and besieged during the war that began with Hamas-led attacks on Israel, led by Hamas. The World Health Organization reported last month that 33 of Gaza’s 36 hospitals had been affected during the war, with only 21 remaining partially functional. The WHO also warned on Saturday that Gaza hospitals are facing an upcoming shortage of medication as they block delivery of aid for six weeks.
The compounds from Arab Arab hospitals took less than two weeks after the war when the missile crashed into the parking lot where dozens of displaced people were refugee. Hamas condemned the strike against Israel, but said that Israel was caused by a false rocket fired by Palestinian Islamic jihad, a group that allied with Hamas. A US intelligence reporting official later said he was “highly confident” in Israeli accounts.
Israeli forces acknowledged responsibility for the latest strike at the hospital on Sunday, saying without providing evidence that the site houses Hamas headquarters. Both the military and the Anglican Church said Israeli soldiers called hospitals to order evacuation before the strike. Neither hospital authorities nor Hamas answered questions about whether the hospital was being used by Hamas fighters.
In another development, Israeli Defense Minister announced on Saturday that it would acquire a strategic East and West Boulevard in southern Gaza. This Sever will connect between two major cities in southern Gaza, Rafa and Khan Eunice, and expand Israeli occupation in that part of the enclave.
Israel calls the boulevard the “Morag Corridor” after a Jewish settlement in an area that was disbanded when Israeli forces evacuated Gaza in 2005.
Defense Minister Israel Katz said Israel has placed an entire region between the corridor and the Gaza-Egypt border (around 25 square miles of area) between the “Israel Security Zone.” The military said it had surrounded Rafa but has yet to establish operational control of all the neighbours.
Before breaking the ceasefire with Hamas in March, Israeli forces controlled only a portion of the land in southern Gaza along the territorial border between Egypt and Israel. However, they began to expand their control in early April when Israeli leaders said Hamas was still being held by the Enclave by around 60 hostages (believed to be dead).
Ameera Harouda contributed to a report from Doha, Qatar.
