Gaza City (Palestinian Territories) (AFP) - An Israeli air strike early Sunday heavily damaged one of the few functioning hospitals in Gaza, with the Israeli military saying it had targeted a Hamas “command and control centre” operating within the facility.

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.

The strike on Al-Ahli Hospital in northern Gaza – also known as the Baptist or Ahli Arab Hospital – caused no casualties, but came a day after Israeli forces seized a key corridor in the territory and signalled plans to expand their campaign.

It also came as aid agencies and the United Nations warned that medicines and related supplies were rapidly running out in Gaza as casualties surged.

“The bombing led to the destruction of the surgery building and the oxygen generation station for the intensive care units,” Gaza’s civil defence rescue agency said.

It came “minutes after the (Israeli) army’s warning to evacuate”, the agency added.

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. An Iraqi broadcaster said one of its TV vans was also damaged.

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

Mahmud Abu Amsha, who witnessed the strike, said those killed were distributing aid.

“They do not care about children or people being killed… This aid was being provided to the displaced people,” he told AFP.

- Patients on streets -

On Saturday, Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz announced that the military planned to expand its offensive as it completed the takeover of the “Morag axis” between the southern cities of Rafah and Khan Yunis.

Patients, relatives and medical personnel evacuated the Al-Ahli hospital in haste following the military’s warning.

Many found themselves stranded in the surrounding streets.

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. We’ve been displaced more than 20 times. The hospital was our last refuge.”

The Israeli military asserted that Hamas militants were operating “a command and control centre” inside the hospital compound.

Hamas condemned what it described as a “savage crime” committed by Israel “with blatant US cover and complicity”, dismissing the claim that the facility was a used militarily.

Qatar, which helped mediate a fragile ceasefire between the warring parties that fell apart last month, also denounced the strike as “a heinous crime”.

- 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 between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas on October 7, 2023.

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

Aid agencies and the UN say that only a few of Gaza’s 36 hospitals remain partially functional.

British Foreign Secretary David Lammy urged Israel on Sunday to halt the “deplorable attacks” on hospitals, calling for diplomacy to “achieve a lasting peace”.

Last month, Israeli forces opened fire on ambulances in Gaza, killing 15 medics and rescuers in an incident 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.

“His fate had remained unknown since he was targeted along with other PRCS medics in Rafah,” the group said in a statement.

The Israeli army has said it is investigating the attack.

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 “one projectile that was identified crossing into Israeli territory from Gaza was intercepted” by the air force, with no injuries reported.

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