An Israeli air strike has destroyed part of al Ahli Arab Hospital, the last fully functional hospital in Gaza City.
Witnesses said the strike destroyed the intensive care and surgery departments of the hospital.
Video posted online appeared to show huge flames and smoke rising after missiles hit a two-storey building.
People, including some patients still in hospital beds, were filmed rushing away from the site.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it targeted the hospital because it contained a “command and control centre used by Hamas”. No casualties were reported, according to Gaza’s civil emergency service.
However, one child, who previously suffered a head injury, died as a result of “the rushed evacuation process”, according to a statement from the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem, which is affiliated to the hospital. The hospital is run by the Anglican Church in Jerusalem.
Surrounding buildings, including St Philip’s church, were also damaged, the diocese said.
It added that it was “appalled” at the bombing of the hospital “on the morning of Palm Sunday and the beginning of Holy Week”.
Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry said al Ahli Arab Hospital’s building was “completely destroyed”, leading to the “forced displacement of patients and hospital staff”.
The IDF said it had taken steps “to mitigate harm to civilians or to the hospital compound, including issuing advanced warnings in the area of the terror infrastructure, the use of precise munitions, and aerial surveillance”.
A local journalist, who was working at the hospital, said the IDF had phoned a doctor who was operating in the emergency department and asked them to evacuate the hospital immediately.
Footage on social media showed staff and patients leaving the building while it was still dark outside.
Dozens of Palestinians, including women and children, were also seen fleeing from a courtyard inside the hospital where they had been seeking shelter.
In its statement, the Hamas-run government media office condemned the attack.
Israel was “committing a horrific crime by targeting al Ahli Arab, which houses hundreds of patients and medical staff”, it said.
UK Foreign Minister David Lammy said such “deplorable attacks must end”, adding: “Israel’s attacks on medical facilities have comprehensively degraded access to healthcare in Gaza.”
In October 2023, an explosion at the same hospital killed hundreds of people.
Palestinian officials blamed an Israeli strike for the blast. Israel said the blast was caused by a failed rocket launch by the armed group Palestinian Islamic Jihad, which denied responsibility.
The Israeli military launched a campaign to destroy Hamas in response to an unprecedented cross-border attack on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 Israelis were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.
More than 50,933 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry.
Of those, 1,563 have been killed since 18 March, when Israel restarted its offensive in the Gaza Strip, the ministry said.
