Gaza - Saba:
Israeli warplanes bombed the Arab Baptist Hospital in Gaza City at dawn on Sunday.
The Palestinian News Agency (WAFA) reported that the enemy aircraft fired two missiles at the reception building, destroying it and causing extensive damage. Fires also broke out in the reception and emergency departments, the laboratory, and the pharmacy.
The agency quoted eyewitnesses as saying that the Israeli army had threatened to bomb the hospital before targeting it, giving the patients, wounded, and medical staff inside an 18-minute deadline to forcibly evacuate the hospital. This prevented any medical care for those whose conditions required it, forcing dozens of wounded and sick people to leave the hospital and sleep on the surrounding streets in the bitter cold.
This bombing has put the hospital out of service for the time being, and it is no longer able to receive those injured by the ongoing Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip.
The hospital provides health services to more than one million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and the northern Gaza Strip, amid a near-total collapse of the health system due to the ongoing Israeli genocide in the Gaza Strip since October 7, 2023, and the deliberate targeting of hospitals and health centers.
It should be noted that the Israeli enemy has previously deliberately destroyed 34 hospitals, putting them out of service as part of a systematic plan to eliminate what remains of the health sector in the Gaza Strip. It has also targeted dozens of medical centers and health institutions in flagrant violation of all international conventions and the Geneva Conventions, which prohibit the targeting of medical facilities.
The Baptist Hospital witnessed one of the most horrific massacres perpetrated by the Israeli enemy army during its genocidal war on the Gaza Strip. It was bombed on October 17, 2023, while hundreds of displaced persons, sick people, and wounded were inside. This attack resulted in the deaths of 471 Palestinian citizens and the injury of hundreds more.
The Baptist Hospital in Gaza is located on the northern outskirts of the Zeitoun neighborhood in southern Gaza City. It is run by the Anglican Episcopal Church in Quds and is one of the oldest hospitals in the city, having been founded in 1882.
The Baptist Hospital became the most important hospital in the northern Gaza Strip after the extensive destruction inflicted by the Israeli enemy army on the Al-Shifa Medical Complex and the Indonesian and Kamal Adwan hospitals. During the genocidal war that has been ongoing for more than 18 months,
The hospital receives dozens of casualties daily due to the intense Israeli airstrikes that have been targeting the Gaza Strip since the ceasefire was violated on March 18.
Since October 7, 2023, Israeli forces have launched an offensive on the Gaza Strip, killing 50,933 Palestinian civilians, the majority of whom are children and women, and wounding 116,450 others. This is a preliminary toll, with a number of victims still buried under the rubble and on the streets, unable to be reached by ambulances and rescue teams.
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