An Israeli airstrike hits a Gaza hospital tent camp, killing 2 Palestinians and hurting journalists
By WAFAA SHURAFA and SAMY MAGDY
Associated Press
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — An Israeli airstrike hit a tent camp in the courtyard of a crowded hospital in central Gaza on Sunday, killing two Palestinians and wounding another 15, including journalists working nearby.
An Associated Press reporter filmed the strike and aftermath at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah, where thousands of people have sheltered after fleeing their homes elsewhere in the war-ravaged territory. People including women and children scattered and cried out.
The Israeli military said it struck a command center of the Islamic Jihad militant group and claimed the hospital’s functioning was not affected.
Tens of thousands of people have sought shelter in Gaza’s hospitals since the start of the war nearly six months ago, viewing them as relatively safe from airstrikes. Israel accuses Hamas and other militants of operating in and around medical facilities, and troops have raided a number of hospitals.
Israeli troops have been raiding Shifa Hospital, Gaza’s largest, for nearly two weeks and say they have fought battles with militants in and around the compound. The military says it has killed scores of fighters, including senior Hamas operatives. It said Sunday it had found numerous weapons hidden there.
Only a third of Gaza’s hospitals are even partially functioning, while Israeli strikes kill and wound scores of people every day. Doctors say they are often forced to operate without anesthetic and other crucial supplies.
Those wounded in Sunday’s strike lay on Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital floor and gasped while being treated, one clutching at the underside of a stretcher that held someone else.
An international team of doctors who recently visited the hospital said they were horrified by the war’s gruesome impact on Palestinian children. The World Health Organization director-general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, says around 9,000 patients urgently need to be evacuated abroad for lifesaving care.
Not far from Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, dozens of Palestinian Christians gathered at the Holy Family Church to celebrate Easter, with incense wafting through the rare building that appeared untouched by war. “We are here with sadness,” attendee Winnie Tarazi said. About 600 people shelter in the compound.
The war began when Hamas-led militants stormed across the border on Oct. 7 and rampaged across southern Israel, killing some 1,200 people and taking around 250 hostages back to Gaza. Over 100 captives were freed last year in exchange for the release of Palestinians imprisoned by Israel.
Israel responded to the assault with one of the deadliest and most destructive military campaigns in recent history. Around 80% of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million have fled their homes. More than half of the population is now sheltering in the southern city of Rafah, where Israel plans a ground offensive despite warnings of catastrophe from allies and humanitarian groups.
The United Nations and partners warn that famine could occur in devastated, largely isolated northern Gaza. Humanitarian officials say deliveries by sea and air are not enough and that Israel must allow far more aid by road. Egypt has said thousands of trucks are waiting. The top U.N. court has ordered Israel to open more land crossings and take other measures to address the crisis.
The head of the World Food Program, Cindy McCain, told CBS that it was able to get just nine trucks into Gaza on Thursday, the day before the interview was taped. “That’s nothing. We just cannot continue this way,” she said, calling for unrestricted access. “People are going to die otherwise, and they already are dying.”
Gaza’s Health Ministry said Sunday that at least 32,782 Palestinians have been killed since the start of the war, including 77 whose bodies were brought to hospitals over the last 24 hours. The ministry’s count does not differentiate between civilians and fighters, but it has said that women and children make up around two-thirds of those killed.
Israel says over one-third of the dead are militants, though it has not provided evidence, and it blames Hamas for civilian casualties because the group operates in residential areas. Gaza health officials have repeatedly denied Israeli claims that militants operate in hospitals.
The United States, Qatar and Egypt have been trying to broker another cease-fire and hostage release. Talks resumed in Cairo on Sunday, with little expectation of any breakthrough.
Hamas wants any such agreement to lead to an end to the war and the withdrawal of Israeli forces.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected those demands and says Israel will keep fighting until it has destroyed Hamas’ military and governing capabilities. But he is under growing pressure to reach a deal from families of the hostages, some of whom have joined mass demonstrations calling for early elections to replace him.
Families of hostages have urged protesters to take to the streets and hundreds of protesters began to assemble Sunday in Jerusalem.
Netanyahu was set to speak to the media before undergoing hernia surgery Sunday.
Amid concerns about a wider conflict in the region, Lebanese state media reported that an Israeli drone struck a car in the southern Lebanese town of Konin. A Lebanese security official told The Associated Press that Hezbollah militant Ismail al-Zain was killed, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with regulations. Israel’s military called al-Zain a “significant commander” in Hezbollah’s elite Radwan Forces’ anti-tank unit, which has conducted strikes into northern Israel. Hezbollah did not immediately respond.
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Magdy reported from Cairo.
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Find more of AP’s war coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war
