Zürcher Nachrichten - WHO says child dies after Israel strike hits Gaza hospital

Since the outbreak of war, tens of thousands of Gazans have sought refuge in hospitals, many of which have suffered severe damage in the ongoing hostilities.

"A child died due to disruption of care" at the Al-Ahli Hospital in northern Gaza after a strike, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on X.

"The emergency room, laboratory, emergency room X-ray machines and the pharmacy were destroyed," he added. "The hospital was forced to move 50 patients to other hospitals. 40 critical patients couldn't be moved."

The Israeli military said it targeted a Hamas "command and control centre" at the hospital, a claim the Palestinian group denied.

Gaza's civil defence agency said the strike came "minutes after the (Israeli) army's warning to evacuate".

Israel's foreign ministry said there was "no medical activity taking place" in the hospital building hit by a "precise strike".

"There were no civilian casualties as a result of the strike," it added on X.

AFP photographs showed massive slabs of concrete and twisted metal scattered across the site after the strike.

The blast left a gaping hole in one of the hospital's buildings, with iron doors torn from their hinges.

Another air strike Sunday on a vehicle in the city of Deir el-Balah killed seven people including six brothers, the civil defence agency said.

- Patients on streets -

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz reiterated Sunday that the military would expand its offensive if Hamas "persists in its refusal" to free the remaining hostages.

"Gaza will become smaller and more isolated, and more of its residents will be forced to evacuate from the combat zones," he said, adding that hundreds of thousands had already evacuated.

Patients, relatives and medical personnel found themselves stranded in the streets after the strike on Al-Ahli hospital.

Naela Imad, 42, had been sheltering at the hospital but had to rush out of the complex.

"Just as we reached the hospital gate, they bombed it. It was a massive explosion," she told AFP.

"Now, me and my children are out on the street... The hospital was our last refuge."

Hamas condemned what it described as a "savage crime" committed by Israel.

Qatar, which helped mediate a fragile ceasefire between the warring parties that fell apart last month, denounced it as "a heinous crime", as did Saudi Arabia.

Also on Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu criticised French President Emmanuel Macron for advocating a Palestinian state.

"President Macron is gravely mistaken in continuing to promote the idea of a Palestinian state in the heart of our land -- a state whose sole aspiration is the destruction of Israel," Netanyahu said in a statement.

Macron, in an interview to France 5 this week, stated that France could take the step at a UN conference in New York in June, saying he hoped this would trigger a reciprocal recognition of Israel by Arab countries.

- Hospitals targeted -

Hospitals, protected under international humanitarian law, have repeatedly been hit by Israeli strikes in the Gaza Strip since the start of the war after Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack on Israel.

Al-Ahli was heavily damaged by an explosion in its car park on October 17, 2023 that caused multiple fatalities.

British Foreign Secretary David Lammy urged Israel on Sunday to halt the "deplorable attacks" on hospitals.

Last month, Israeli forces opened fire on ambulances in Gaza, killing 15 medics and rescuers in an attack that sparked international condemnation.

The Palestine Red Crescent Society said Sunday that a medic who had been missing since the attack, Asaad al-Nsasrah, was "being held by Israeli authorities".

The Gaza war broke out after Hamas's October 2023 attack on Israel which resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.

Gaza's health ministry said Sunday that at least 1,574 Palestinians had been killed since March 18 when the ceasefire collapsed, taking the overall death toll since the war began to 50,944.

The ceasefire had largely put a halt to the fighting in Gaza for two months, but Israel restarted intense strikes in mid-March, with Palestinian militants resuming rocket fire from the territory days later.

The Israeli military said Sunday that it intercepted a projectile launched from Gaza. Later on Sunday, it said it had also intercepted a missile launched from Yemen.

Yemen's Iran-backed Huthi rebels, who say they are acting in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza, said they had fired two ballistic missiles on Israel, including one that targeted Ben Gurion airport.

O.Pereira--NZN