Massacre of al-Ahli Arab Hospital

Location of al_Ahli Hospital

Strike on hospital

The Massacre of al-Ahli Arab Hospital is the tragic event of the Israeli Zionist Regime's airstrikes targeting the al-Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza, on October 17, 2023. This devastating attack led to the martyrdom and injury of over 500 defenseless and homeless patients, mainly women and children. The media characterized this killing as genocide, a real holocaust, and a war crime, underscoring the gravity and potential violation of international humanitarian laws.

Al-Ahli Arab Hospital

Al-Ahli Arab Hospital, also known as "Al-Ma'madani Hospital" and "Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital," is a compound hospital situated in central Gaza. Al-Ahli Arab Hospital is the oldest hospital in Gaza, founded in 1882 by the Church Mission Society of the Church of England. It is currently managed by the Anglican Episcopal Church in Jerusalem and has been a long-standing partner of AOA..

Al-Ahli Hospital Before Airstrike

Following the al-Aqsa Operation, al-Ahli Hospital was crowded with victims of ten days of Israeli airstrikes, families, and others who have taken refuge on hospital grounds. Footages before the Strike show the outside of the hospital, where countless Palestinian families had been camping out.

The hospital was one of twenty in the north of the Gaza Strip facing evacuation orders from the Israeli military. The demand for evacuation has been impossible to carry out given the current insecurity, critical condition of many patients, and lack of ambulances, staff, health system bed capacity, and alternative shelter for those displaced. On October 17, the Israeli regime’s fighter jets bombarded the Al-Ahli Arab (Al-Ma’madani) Hospital in Gaza City.

Casualities

Gaza's health ministry spokesman said an Israeli air strike on Tuesday killed hundreds of people at a hospital in the Palestinian enclave. Initial statistics indicate that the merciless Israeli air strike on the Al-Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza left more than 500 Palestinian martyrs and over 600 others wounded.

The health ministry in the Hamas-controlled territory said at least 471 people were killed in the strike on the Gaza hospital, adding that more than 300 others were wounded. Health Ministry spokesperson Ashraf Al-Qudra said the death toll was likely to rise further as rescuers pulled bodies from the rubble.

International Political Reaction

On October 18, 2023, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he was "horrified" by hundreds of people killed in an airstrike at a Gaza hospital, strongly condemning the action. He called for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire and made appeals to "ease the epic human suffering". The UN Secretary-General also pointed out that the Palestinian people have legitimate and deep grievances after fifty-six years of occupation. But, as serious as those grievances are, they cannot justify terror attacks. And as appalling as those attacks have been, they cannot justify the collective punishment of the Palestinian people.

The UN human rights chief Volker Turk called the hospital strike totally unacceptable, insisting that the perpetrators must be held to account. African Union, European Union, and France condemned the deadly Gaza hospital strike, too.

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian, during the OIC (Organisation of Islamic Cooperation) extraordinary session, calls for an immediate and complete embargo on Israel by Islamic countries, including oil sanctions, in addition to expelling Israeli ambassadors if relations with the Zionist regime been established,”. In one sign of this, Jordan's foreign minister, canceled a summit his country was to host in Amman with Biden and the Egyptian and Palestinian leaders.

The Supreme Political Council of Yemen said in a statement in response to Israel’s crime against Al-Ahli Arab Hospital that this is a historical moment in the history of our nation, and we ask all Muslim nations to unite against the enemy to support the united fighters. This enemy has crossed all borders, all human and ethical standards, and all international conventions and can only be confronted by force.

Press conference held by the Gaza Ministry of Health, among the bodies of the martyrs of the Israeli genocide on the al-Ahli Hospital

World Health Organization Reaction

WHO strongly condemns the attack on Al Ahli Arab Hospital in the north of the Gaza Strip. The hospital was operational, with patients, health and caregivers, and internally displaced people sheltering there. Early reports indicate hundreds of fatalities and injuries. WHO called for the immediate active protection of civilians and health care and declared Evacuation orders must be reversed, and international humanitarian law must be abided by, which means health care must be actively protected and never targeted.

Who Committed the Crime?

Some Western media and Zionist sources released an unrelated video and claimed that this attack happened due to the fall of rockets fired by Islamic Jihad forces, but the details of the video’s time and date revealed the falsehood of this accusation. Some other Israeli media have also called the hospital parking lot the target of the attack and claimed that they unintentionally hit the hospital, which left heavy casualties. However, extremist Minister of National Security of the Zionist regime Itamar Ben-Gvir reacted to this heinous crime, saying that the only thing that needs to enter Gaza is hundreds of tons of our air force’s explosives, not a gram of humanitarian aid!

Palestinian officials condemned the Zionist regime for bombing the hospital; meanwhile, Palestinian armed groups have denied any role. The Palestinian Islamic Jihad denied accusations that the hospital blast was caused by a misfired rocket from their side as “false and baseless.”

According to the World Health Organization, there have been over 115 attacks on healthcare in Palestine since the start of the conflict on October 7. An Israeli army spokesperson published a statement on X and Telegram at 21:17 [The explosion took place at about 7 pm local time (16:00 GMT) on Tuesday] saying that ‘we have warned for the evacuation of the Al-Ahli hospital and five other hospitals so that Hamas won’t use them’, this is clearly documented, although it was quickly deleted,” the statement continues. An investigation by Al Jazeera’s Sanad verification team found that Israeli statements seem to have misinterpreted the evidence to build a story that one of the flashes recorded by several sources was a rocket misfire.

In an interview, Ahmed Abofoul, legal researcher and advocacy officer at Rights Organization Al-Haq, pointed out that striking hospitals can amount to a "war crime". He said this was not the first time that Israel has denied responsibility for attacks on civilian targets, referring to the May 2022 killing of Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh. Israel did the same thing in the killing of Abu Akleh, where, at first, they denied and accused Palestinians of doing it and then when they were exposed, they admitted that they did it, he said, adding that “but no one was held accountable.”.

Horrific Breach of Humanitarian Law

Hospitals in Gaza are seen as a place of safety and refuge for civilians seeking shelter during continuous bombardment. Under Article 55 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, the occupying power “has the duty of ensuring the food and medical supplies of the population,” and “it should, in particular, bring in the necessary foodstuffs, medical stores, and other articles if the resources of the occupied territory are inadequate.” Under Article 56, it also “has the duty of ensuring and maintaining, with the cooperation of national and local authorities, the medical and hospital establishments and services, public health and hygiene in the occupied territory.”

Additionally, Article 59 establishes that if the “whole or part of the population of an occupied territory is inadequately supplied, the Occupying Power shall agree to relief schemes on behalf of the said population, and shall facilitate them by all the means at its disposal,” adding that all parties “shall permit the free passage” of humanitarian assistance provided by other states of impartial humanitarian organizations.

Targeting civilian objects, including hospitals, is “absolutely prohibited” under international humanitarian law, according to a legal expert, stressing that everyone should support an International Criminal Court (ICC) investigation into Tuesday night’s deadly attack on the Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital in the Gaza Strip.

Internationally accepted rules of armed conflict were passed under the Geneva Conventions in 1949, which state children must be protected and treated humanely. However, Israeli air strikes on Gaza have killed one child every 10 minutes since the start of the war. As of November 3, out of the 9,227 victims, 3,826 of them are reported to be children. Furthermore, the latest update confirms that there are 2,100 people, including 1,200 children, still trapped under the rubble in Gaza.

Protests in Condemnation of Israeli Genocide

Demonstrators protest in solidarity with Palestinians, London

Protesters condemned Genocide in Gaza

Following this horrific crime, people from Islamic countries, including Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Yemen, Jordan, Turkiye, Tunisia, Egypt etc, took to the streets and chanted anti-US and anti-Israeli slogans as a sign of protest. Moreover, Islamic governments declared a public mourning and condemned the crime by issuing various statements. Other Islamic countries also strongly condemned the bombing of the Gaza hospital.

Hundreds of protesters occupied a building of the US Congress, urging lawmakers and President Joe Biden's administration to push for a ceasefire in Gaza. Dressed in black T-shirts emblazoned with the words "Jews say ceasefire now", "Not in our name", "Ceasefire" and "Let Gaza Live." The City University of New York's students and teachers also gathered for a pro-Palestinian rally near the Empire State Building in Manhattan. Signs with slogans such as "Stop Genocide!" and "Stop US Aid to Israel," floated above protesters' heads at the demonstration, with participants chanting, "Free, free Palestine."

Elsewhere worldwide, pro-Palestinian supporters held a vigil in Rome's Piazza della Repubblica, protesting the Israeli regime's war of aggression. Hundreds of protesters gathered in Berlin to support Palestinians, chanting "Free Palestine" and "Stop the genocide". In Havana, some 300 Cubans and Palestinians condemned the hospital bombing during a rally in support of Gaza in the Cuban capital.

Condemning Zionists or Judaists?

Jewish Voice For Peace: Stop Genocide against Palestinians

Some American Jews organized rallies and protests to denounce what they perceived as crimes committed by Israel. They believed that being anti-Zionist does not equate to being anti-Semitic, and they emphasized that the actions attributed to Zionism should not be associated with the entire Jewish community. Additionally, a campaign called "Not in My Name" was launched by European and American Jews to express their opposition to the actions of the Israeli government in Palestine.. The Jewish Voice for Peace petition, calling for an immediate end to the Israeli attack on Gaza, gathering signatures from Israeli citizens living in Israel, Palestine and abroad.

See Also

• Al-Aqsa Flood
• Swords of Iron