The Israeli army acknowledged on Sunday that it carried out an airstrike on the al-Ahli Baptist Hospital in Gaza City, claiming that Hamas was operating a "command and control center" within the facility.
In the early hours of Sunday, Israeli warplanes struck the hospital located in central Gaza, destroying a building and causing massive fires in several sections of the medical complex, effectively putting it out of service.
In a statement, the Israeli army said it targeted what it alleged to be a "Hamas command center" located inside the Baptist hospital in northern Gaza.
An Anadolu reporter at the scene confirmed that two missiles struck the hospital's main reception building, completely demolishing it and setting fire to several departments, including emergency services, labs, and the pharmacy.
Medical sources at the hospital told Anadolu that the facility is now completely non-operational and cannot receive any of the wounded from the ongoing Israeli bombardment across the Gaza Strip.
Eyewitnesses said that prior to the attack, the Israeli army had issued threats to bomb the hospital, prompting dozens of injured patients and staff to evacuate the premises and shelter in surrounding streets, despite the freezing cold.
The forced evacuation led to further humanitarian tragedies, with medical sources reporting the death of an injured girl during the process. Many critically wounded patients remain in life-threatening conditions as a result of the hospital's shutdown.
The hospital had been providing essential health services to more than 1 million Palestinians in Gaza and North Gaza Governorates amid the near-total collapse of the healthcare system due to the ongoing Israeli assault, which began on Oct. 7, 2023.
The Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital had already been the site of one of the deadliest Israeli attacks during the current war, when it was bombed on Oct. 17, 2023, killing at least 471 Palestinians, including many displaced persons, patients, and medics.
More than 50,900 Palestinians, most of them women and children, have been killed in Gaza in a brutal Israeli onslaught since October 2023.
The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants last November for Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.
