Israeli genocidal attacks have purposefully targeted hospitals    (File photo)

Deir el-Balah, April 14 (RHC)-- Israeli airstrikes purposefully targeted the al-Ahli Hospital in Deir el-Balah.  The hospital was a key lifeline in northern Gaza and it too has now been put out of service due to the Israeli military escalation.

Al Jazeera correspondent Tareq Abu Azzoum, reporting from Deir el-Balah, Gaza, said:  "This could be a part of the Israeli systematic policy to de-populate northern Gaza, to exert more pressure on civilians, to move southward and to force Palestinians to flee, in order to facilitate military control over that already battered area.

Just a couple of weeks ago, the Israeli military targeted the national medical facility in the city of Khan Younis.  Before that, they destroyed the al-Shifa medical complex. They’ve also put Kamal Adwan Hospital out of service.  And they’ve also attacked the Indonesian Hospital in the north multiple times.

The Al Jazeera correspondent said: "We are seeing Israeli forces attack a medical sector that has been struggling to continue providing the minimum level of services due to the total Israeli blockade on humanitarian aid since March 2nd and its devastating attacks since March 18th.

Al Jazeera's correspondent in Gaza City says the Israeli attack caused “severe destruction” at the al-Ahli Arab Hospital, also known as the Baptist Hospital, with damage reported to several buildings, including the emergency unit.

Videos of the aftermath of the attack showed burned tents, rubble and abandoned stretchers for patients.

Tareq Abu Azzoum, reporting from Deir el-Balah, Gaza, said: "We understand that dozens of wounded and sick people have been evacuated from the hospital and are now lying in the streets surrounding the hospital with no shelter or medical care."

The Al Jazeera reporter said that critically ill patients, including those in the surgical and emergency units, are now left without shelter or oxygen.  Some, in fact, may die, not just from the attack itself, but from the loss, now, of this medical care.

The Government Media Office in Gaza has slammed the bombing of the hospital in Gaza City, which is also known as the Baptist Hospital, calling it a “heinous” and “terrible” crime.
In a statement, the office called the al-Ahli Hospital “one of the oldest and most important health institutions” in Gaza.

“The Baptist Hospital, which includes many specialized departments, had hundreds of patients and wounded, medical staff and escorts at the moment of targeting, and provides health services to more than a million Palestinians in the governorates of Gaza and northern Gaza,” it said.

Israeli forces have already “deliberately destroyed 34 hospitals” in Gaza, the office said, adding that the continued attacks on medical facilities are a “flagrant violation of all international charters and the Geneva Conventions prohibiting the targeting of medical facilities.”

[ SOURCE:  AL JAZEERA ]