Israeli soldier stands near boxes labelled 'Medical Supplies' at the Al Shifa hospital. (Credit: Israeli army/handout via Reuters)
BEIRUT — On March 18, Israeli forces once again stormed al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, besieging it, shooting at civilians
This was not the first attack against a healthcare facility by Israel since Oct.7. It wasn't even the army's first attack on al-Shifa Hospital.
According to the World Health Organization, there have been 410 attacks targeting healthcare in Gaza which have resulted in 685 fatalities, 902 injuries, damage to 99 facilities and affected 104 ambulances.
According to international humanitarian law, health establishments and units, including hospitals, should not be attacked. However, many have argued that Israel has repeatedly broken this law in its war inside Gaza.
The first attack on Oct. 17, although disputed, came against the Anglican al-Ahli Arab Hospital which killed around 500 people and sparked immediate outrage across the world, with spontaneous protests breaking out after the attack in Arab capitals in front of US and Israeli embassies.
The Palestinian Red Crescent’s spokesperson in Gaza Raed al-Nems told L’Orient Today that “all 36 of the hospitals in Gaza have been brutally attacked since Oct.7.”
Below, we document some of the major attacks against healthcare facilities in Gaza since Oct.7.
(Credit: Guilhem DORANDEU)
Anglican al-Ahli Arab Hospital
On Oct. 17 at around 7 p.m. local time, a strike hit the Anglican al-Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza City, which was sheltering displaced people who had sought refuge there. Less than an hour after the strike, Hamas accused Israel of being the perpetrator, citing a death toll that ranged in the evening between 200 and 900, before settling the next day on a figure of 471 dead. Israel said that the explosion was caused by a faulty rocket fired by Islamic Jihad that fell on the facility. There has been no definitive answer to which side caused the explosion although Forensic Architecture, a multidisciplinary research group based at the University of London, poked holes in Israel's narrative in the weeks and months since the hospital was struck.
Popular anger was spontaneously expressed across the Middle East on the evening of Oct. 17 as people in Lebanon, the occupied West Bank, Jordan, Bahrain and several other countries took to the streets condemning the attack and calling for “attacks against Israel.”
Lebanon observed a day of mourning on Oct.18 and schools, universities, and public institutions were closed.
Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani Hospital
The Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani Hospital for Rehabilitation and Prosthetics in Gaza reported heavy damage on Oct 17. The hospital was the first in Gaza to equip individuals with prosthetic limbs and deliver comprehensive rehabilitation services.
The hospital “was subjected to significant damage as a result of the violent and continuous Israeli bombardment on its surroundings,” the Qatar-built hospital said in a statement.
The hospital had already been damaged previously during an Israeli bombardment in 2021.
Turkish-Palestinian Friendship Hospital
On Oct. 30, an air strike in the vicinity of the Turkish-Palestinian Friendship Hospital caused damage and was condemned by Turkey.
Indonesian Hospital
On Nov. 20, 2023, the Israeli army completely surrounded and besieged the hospital, located right outside Gaza's largest refugee camp in Jabaliya, in the north of the strip.
Al-Quds Hospital
The Palestinian Red Crescent reported that Al-Quds Hospital in Gaza City was warned by the Israeli army to immediately evacuate on Oct.29. Al-Quds Hospital was sheltering hundreds of patients and more than 12,000 displaced civilians in Gaza.
On Jan. 19 2024, the Palestinian Red Crescent reported they were working to clean and repair Al-Quds after it sustained damage from Israeli attacks, stating, "The hospital suffered a fire and a destruction of all its medical equipment and contents."
On Feb.9, the Palestine Red Crescent Society stated the hospital had sustained severe damage from strikes by Israeli tanks.
Al-Amal Hospital
Between Jan. 26 and Feb. 27, al-Amal Hospital was subjected to a prolonged siege and series of attacks by Israeli forces, resulting in numerous casualties and severe damage to the hospital's infrastructure. Snipers targeted individuals, including those carrying white flags, outside the hospital. The hospital compound witnessed multiple raids by Israeli forces, resulting in deaths and injuries among patients, staff, and bystanders.
Israeli forces reportedly killed civilians inside the hospital, including patients and staff members. The siege led to shortages of essential supplies such as food, water, and medicine, exacerbating the humanitarian crisis within the hospital.
Jordan Field Hospital
The Jordan Field Hospital in Gaza, which has been operating since 2009, was badly affected during the conflict. The hospital faced an existential threat due to a lack of supplies during the Israeli bombardment. In response, the Jordanian Air Force sent emergency medical aid to the hospital on Nov. 5.
King Abdallah of Jordan said that this is their "duty."
Our fearless air force personnel air-dropped at midnight urgent medical aid to the Jordanian field hospital in Gaza. This is our duty to aid our brothers and sisters injured in the war on Gaza. We will always be there for our Palestinian brethren pic.twitter.com/HOWI2VL7hL
— عبدالله بن الحسين (@KingAbdullahII) November 5, 2023
On Jan. 19, the Jordanian government reported that the Israeli military had deliberately targeted its field hospital in Khan Younis, using a tank to block the hospital entrance and shooting at the hospital and bunker shelters.
Al-Awda Hospital
Between Dec. 1 and Feb. 7, al-Awda Hospital in northern Gaza faced severe attacks and a prolonged siege by Israeli forces. The hospital, initially damaged in an Israeli bombing, became a target for further assaults.
Reports indicated over 2,000 patients were evacuated to southern Gaza due to Israeli orders. Survivors, trapped amidst Israeli snipers, endured shortages of water and food, with harrowing reports of pregnant women and nurses being targeted and killed.
Doctors Without Borders expressed grave concerns about the safety of patients and staff. Israeli troops seized the hospital, subjecting men and boys to interrogation. Continued assaults included airstrikes and shelling, resulting in additional casualties. By Feb. 27, the hospital was at risk of closure.
Kamal Adwan hospital
On Dec. 3, the Israeli army conducted a strike near Kamal Adwan Hospital, resulting in the deaths of at least four individuals. Subsequently, on Dec.11, the hospital's director reported that Israel targeted its maternity ward, resulting in the deaths of two mothers and their newborn babies, a tragedy confirmed by the UN. Israel further raided the hospital on Dec. 12, ordering all men and boys above sixteen to leave for searches. This operation led to the arrest of 70 medical staffers, drawing "concern" from the head of the World Health Organization, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
Abood, a 17-year-old known for his social media coverage of the war, described his arrest by Israeli forces in a video that went viral, detailing being handcuffed, blindfolded and taken away along with other men and teenagers. In his video, he explains with a childish smile that he has no idea where he was taken. “I couldn’t see a thing,” he explained.
Yafa Hospital
On Dec. 8, the Israeli army damaged the Yafa hospital in central Gaza with an airstrike.
Nasser Medical Complex
On Jan. 26, Gaza's health ministry reported severe shortages of essential supplies like food, anesthetics and painkillers, attributing it to an Israeli siege. The complex housed 150 health personnel, 350 patients and numerous displaced families enduring catastrophic conditions.
Throughout February, the situation escalated. Israeli snipers targeted individuals outside the hospital, resulting in casualties. Doctors and paramedics faced constant danger, with reports of them being shot and wounded while trying to provide care. Incidents of bravery, like a doctor risking her life to save a wounded man, circulated online.
Israeli tank and artillery fire struck the hospital, causing further chaos and casualties, including seven people killed by snipers on Feb. 12. The next day, Israeli forces ordered displaced people within the complex to evacuate, resulting in more casualties as they left. Fuel shortages led to sewage flooding parts of the hospital, worsening conditions.
On Feb.14, Israeli soldiers reportedly continued to fire on the facility. The health ministry reported that there were 273 patients unable to move and 327 companions remaining in the hospital.
Al-Rantisi and Al-Nasr children's hospitals
On Nov. 10, Israel besieged the al-Rantisi and al-Nasr Hospitals for Children, both of which are located within one residential bloc, facing the al-Shati Camp in the Gaza Strip.
The Israeli army ordered the medical staff, patients, and civilians seeking refuge in the hospital to evacuate it, announcing that it would bomb the hospital. Premature babies in incubators who were relying on oxygen tanks to survive had to be left inside the hospital.
This photo released by Dr. Marawan Abu Saada shows prematurely born Palestinian babies in al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City on Nov. 12, 2023. (Credit: AFP)
Many doctors refused to comply with these orders, citing a lack of safety measures for patients and any guarantee of return.
At the end of November journalists from Emirati TV channel Al-Mashhad discovered the decomposing remains of the babies who were not among those evacuated from the children's hospital.
European Hospital
On Feb.3, Israeli attacks damaged a fuel tank at Gaza's European Hospital, reportedly killing one person and injuring at least six.
Other facilities
On Feb. 15, the United Nations reported that Israel had destroyed its Rehabilitation Centre for Visually Impaired, a clinic for visually impaired children.
On March 10, the offices of the Palestine Children's Relief Fund, a charity that provides medical care for children was bombed and destroyed.
Al-Shifa Hospital's second siege
On March 18, Israeli forces stormed al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City with tanks and heavy gunfire, resulting in at least 90 deaths and 300 detained, Palestinian officials have said.
Photos, that could not be independently verified by L'Orient Today, circulating on social media showed Palestinians stripped of their clothes, handcuffed, blindfolded and kneeling down in the courtyard of the hospital.
One of Al Jazeera’s correspondents, Ismail al-Ghoul, who was in the hospital, along with his media team, was detained and beaten by Israeli forces.
Israeli soldiers walk at the al-Shifa hospital complex, amid their ground operation in Gaza. (Credit: Israeli army/handout via Reuters)
Emergency surgeon Mads Gilbert, who worked at Gaza’s al-Shifa Hospital during previous wars, shared in an interview with Al Jazeera the details provided by his former colleagues at the medical compound after Israel’s latest raid.
“Medical staff have been arrested and left for hours in the cold,” the Norwegian physician said. The Israeli army scanned their faces with a camera and took them for what they described as “humiliating investigations,” he added.
“Some were forced to leave the hospital and taken to unknown places. Others were displaced to the south half naked,” Gilbert said. “One doctor was shot in the chest when he followed the orders to leave the hospital and later went into surgery at al-Ahli Arab Hospital.”
Gilbert also said the Israeli army in its “repeated attacks” does not differentiate “between fighters and medical staff, patients and refugees.”
He said that as a result of Monday’s raid, al-Shifa Hospital was again non-operational, putting at risk the lives of Palestinians in northern Gaza, where starvation, lack of water and disease are life-threatening in addition to the war.
In November, Israel entered al-Shifa for the first time claiming that it was pursuing a Hamas command center under the hospital but both Hamas and hospital staff denied that any such facility exists. Dozens of people, including premature babies died as a result of the Israeli siege on the hospital.