Israel intensifies strikes across Gaza on Palm Sunday

Deir Al-Balah, April 13: Israel struck a hospital in northern Gaza early Sunday, forcing patients to evacuate as attacks intensified.
The pre-dawn strike hit Al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza City, after Israel issued an evacuation warning, according to Gaza’s ministry of health. One patient, a girl, died during the evacuation because medical staff were unable to provide urgent care, it said.
Strikes on Palm Sunday
The hospital is run by the Diocese of Jerusalem, which condemned the attack in a statement, saying it happened on “Palm Sunday, the start of the Holy Week, the most sacred week of the Christian year”.
Palm Sunday commemorates Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem.
Israel said it struck a command and control centre used by Hamas at the hospital to plan and execute attacks against Israeli civilians and soldiers, without providing evidence. It said prior to the strike, steps were taken to mitigate harm, including issuing warnings, and using precise munitions and aerial surveillance.
In a statement Sunday, Hamas denied the allegations that the hospital was used by militants and called for an independent international investigation.
Hours later, a separate strike on a car in Deir al-Balah in central Gaza, killed at least seven people – six brothers and their friend – according to staff at the morgue of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, which received the bodies. The brothers, of whom the youngest was 10, were buried in Deir al-Balah.
Their father, Ibrahim Abu Mahadi, said his sons worked for a charity that distributes food to Palestinians in Gaza. “For what sin were they killed?” he said.
Another strike in Deir al-Balah, on a municipal building Sunday afternoon, killed at least three people, according to the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, and in the southern city of Khan Younis, a strike killed at least three people, said staff at Nasser Hospital, which received the bodies.
The Israeli military also said they targeted another command and control centre in the area of Deir al-Balah when many Hamas militants were present and planning to carry out an attack against Israeli soldiers. This was not connected to the strike on the car in the same area, which the army said it was looking into.
Israel expands across Gaza
The strikes came hours after Israel’s defence minister said that military activity would rapidly expand across Gaza and that people would have to evacuate from “fighting zones”.
Israel also announced Saturday the completion of the Morag corridor, cutting off the southern city of Rafah from the rest of Gaza, with the military saying it would soon expand “vigorously” in most of the small coastal territory.
Israeli authorities have vowed to pressure Hamas to release the remaining 59 hostages, 24 believed to be alive, and accept proposed new ceasefire terms.
The director of Al-Ahli Hospital, Dr Fadel Naim, said they were warned of the attack before it was struck. In a post on X, he wrote that the emergency room, pharmacy and surrounding buildings were severely damaged, impacting more than 100 patients and dozens of medical staff.
The health ministry said the strike destroyed the ward for outpatients and laboratories and damaged the emergency ward.
The aid group Medical Aid for Palestinians said this was the fifth attack on the hospital since the war began. It’s the last major hospital providing critical healthcare in northern Gaza.
Medical facilities often come under fire in wars, but combatants usually depict such incidents as accidental or exceptional, since hospitals enjoy special protection under international law.
In its 18-month campaign in Gaza, Israel has stood out by carrying out an open campaign on hospitals, besieging and raiding them, some several times, as well as hitting multiple others in strikes while accusing Hamas of using them as cover for its fighters.
Last month Israel struck Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis city, the largest in southern Gaza, killing two people and wounding others and causing a large fire, the territory’s health ministry said.
The facility was overwhelmed with dead and wounded when Israel ended the ceasefire with a surprise wave of airstrikes. (AP)