List of some of the severest Israeli attacks on the healthcare system in Gaza since October 23, 2023.
An Israeli air raid has left the last functioning hospital in northern Gaza nonoperational, forcing critically ill patients onto the streets.
The latest attack on al-Ahli Arab Hospital on Sunday comes as Israel seized a corridor south of the war-battered Palestinian territory and said it planned to expand its military offensive after breaking up a ceasefire in March.
Gaza’s Civil Defence said the Israeli air force targeted a building of the hospital in the early hours on Sunday.
The Israeli army and the Shin Bet agency claimed, without providing evidence, to have targeted a Hamas “command and control complex” in the hospital.
Gaza’s healthcare facilities have been targeted repeatedly, including with 2,000-pound bombs made in the United States.
Al-Ahli Hospital is one of at least 36 hospitals that have been bombed and burned by the Israeli military since the start of the war.
Targeting of health facilities, medical personnel and patients is considered a war crime under the 1949 Geneva Convention.
Here’s a list of some of the major attacks on healthcare in Gaza since October 2023:
October 17, 2023
Hundreds of people sheltering in the car park of al-Ahli Hospital were killed in an Israeli attack, according to Palestinian health officials. In the days leading up to the incident, the hospital director reportedly received warnings from Israel. Israel attributed the explosion at the facility to a misfired rocket launched by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, an allegation denied by the armed group.
November 3, 2023
An ambulance convoy was destroyed by an Israeli air attack outside al-Shifa Hospital, resulting in many Palestinian deaths.
November 21, 2023
An air raid on al-Awda Hospital killed Dr Mahmoud Abu Nujaila and Dr Ahmad al-Sahar of Doctors Without Borders (MSF), and another doctor, Ziad al-Tatari.
January 22, 2024
Several people were killed while sheltering about 150 metres (about 500 feet) from the entrance of Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis. Evacuees sheltering in the area suffered due to fighting and forced evacuation orders.
March 20, 2024
The Israeli military said it killed 90 people in its raid on al-Shifa Hospital during a siege as displaced Palestinians sheltering in the facility described long detentions and abuse. Hamas condemned the “bloody massacre” in the hospital and said civilians, patients and displaced people were among those killed.
March 31, 2024
Many people were killed and injured in an air raid on the yard of Al-Aqsa Hospital, just outside the emergency room where many internally displaced people were sheltering.
April 1, 2024
A 14-day siege of al-Shifa Hospital, the largest hospital in the enclave, by Israeli forces saw hundreds of people killed, including medical staff, and mass arrests of its staff and others.
October 14, 2024
An Israeli air attack on Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir el-Balah killed five people and wounded 65. Tents of displaced people caught fire while people were sleeping.
December 28, 2024
The Israeli army arrested Dr Hussam Abu Safia, the director of Kamal Adwan Hospital, after refusing to follow orders to abandon one of the last functioning hospitals in northern Gaza. His arrest came a day after the military killed approximately 20 Palestinians and apprehended about 240 in a raid inside the hospital, which was one of the “largest operations” conducted in the territory until that time.
November 2023
Israeli forces laid siege to the Indonesia Hospital in Beit Lahiya for days. The Israeli forces left the hospital in ruins, with charred and decomposing bodies piling up in corners.
January 4, 2025
The Indonesian Hospital in north Gaza was put out of service following repeated attacks by Israeli forces, according to Gaza’s Ministry of Health.
March 23, 2025
Israeli forces reportedly shot 15 Palestinian medics, working for the Palestine Red Crescent Society, dead during a rescue mission in Rafah’s Tal as-Sultan neighbourhood. A video recovered from the mobile phone of one of the killed Palestinian medics showed Israeli forces’ involvement, igniting widespread outrage.
