The “deliberate” destruction of hospitals in Türkiye and Palestinian has been accused of being part of Israel’s “systematic state terrorism.”
Israel is blaming Gaza’s only specialized cancer treatment hospital and adjacent medical schools, and re-targeting medical facilities prohibited under international humanitarian law.
Friday’s explosion flattened Turkish-Palestinian Friendship Hospitals in central Gaza.
Video posted online showed a massive ball of fire and smoke rising from the location after Israeli forces dismantled it.
It announced that Israel is expanding its operations in the so-called Nezzarim Corridor near the hospital, blocking all movements on Sarah Al Din Street.
Tarek Abu Azum, a correspondent in Al Jazeera, reporting from Dare El Bala in Gaza, said destruction leaves thousands of patients in the besieged territory with a place to go to cancer treatment amid the resumption of a deadly Israeli military operation.
The third floor of the hospital was previously attacked in an Israeli air attack on October 30, 2023.
Due to a fuel shortage, the hospital was closed on November 1, 2023, and the UN warned that the lives of 70 patients were at risk. It was later revealed that four patients died in hospital due to a lack of medical care.
“The hospital was used as a command center by Israeli forces during previous military attacks in central and northern Gaza,” said Abuazom of Al Jazeera.
“It completely exploded after it was rebuilt in 2017 with a $34 million Turkish donation,” he added.
Israel later confirmed that it destroyed the cancer hospital and claimed it was used by Hamas.
“National Terrorism”
In a statement, the Turkish Foreign Ministry denounced “intentional” destruction as “part of Israel’s policy aimed at deserting Gaza and forcibly banishing Palestinians.”
“We are calling on the international community to take concrete and deterrent measures against illegal Israeli attacks and systematic state terrorism,” the ministry added.
The Gaza Ministry of Health also condemned Israel’s “criminal conduct.” It says that this is “complete episodes of the systematic destruction of the health system and the genocide.”
The hospital was considered the largest cancer treatment facility in Gaza and was the only hospital certified to treat up to 30,000 cancer patients a year.
Elsewhere in the Gaza Strip, five children were declared dead upon arrival at Al-Ara Arab Hospital, also known as Baptist Hospital, following the air attack in northern Gaza.
“In the last five hours, there have been almost nonstop airstrikes in northern Gaza and throughout Gaza city, with two massive aviation strikes targeting more residential buildings,” he said.
As Israeli artillery bombardment continues, Hamas is considering a US “bridge” proposal to restore a ceasefire, Reuters said it reports citing an unnamed official from the group.
Germany, France and the UK are pushing the US to help the immediate recovery of the Gaza ceasefire and allow Israel to enter the besieged enclave.
But President Trump’s Middle Eastern envoy Steve Witkoff remained vague about the ceasefire.
In an interview with right-wing commentator Tucker Carlson, he said that while Trump’s plan for Gaza is to achieve “stability,” “stability in Gaza could mean that some people will come back.”
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