(LifeSiteNews) — Early Palm Sunday morning the Israeli army bombed the last functioning hospital in Gaza City, the al-Ahli Arab Baptist Hospital, which is managed by the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem.
As reported by Middle East Eye, the missile strikes brought about “the destruction of the surgery building and the oxygen generation station for the intensive care units.” The attacks damaged other buildings as well including the adjoining St. Phillip’s Church.
According to eyewitnesses, the bombing assaults occurred just 18 minutes following the Israelis issuing orders for all staff, patients and sheltering people to evacuate immediately or risk death.
Also damaged or destroyed by the missile strikes were other essential departments of the hospital including the emergency care ward, laboratory and pharmacy.
Critically ill patients were evacuated in a rush out into the cold deprived of proper care. At least three of them, including one child being treated for head injuries, died as a result.
⚡️BREAKING
ISRAEL HAS DESTROYED the Christian Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital live on TV, using American bombs. pic.twitter.com/ZPYQLtSCLa
— Warfare Analysis (@warfareanalysis) April 13, 2025
The attack on the hospital, which has been operating for 143 years, comes in the seventh week of an Israeli blockade of all humanitarian aid—including food, water, energy and medical supplies—to the enclave where approximately two million Palestinians (one million children) remain confined.
And with continual bombing campaigns since Israel restarted its genocidal massacres on March 18, the health care system is incapable of treating the wounded with most medical supplies being completely out of stock.
The Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem issued a statement on Sunday condemning the missile attacks “in the strongest terms” which it marked as the “fifth time since the beginning of the war in 2023” that the facility has been bombed—”and this time on the morning of Palm Sunday and the beginning of Holy Week.”
The Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem released a stirring statement condemning the attack upon the hospital, “a place consecrated to healing and long rooted in the Christian vocation of mercy.”
“This hospital, already strained by months of siege, stood as one of the last beacons of medical hope in Gaza, where dozens of healthcare institutions have been systematically destroyed,” the statement reads. “The stripping away of such sanctuaries of life and dignity is a tragedy that transcends all boundaries of politics and enters the realm of the sacred.”
The Israeli army claimed the strike on the hospital was against “a command-and-control center used by Hamas” without providing any evidence for this allegation. Hamas denied the charge.
Similar Israeli claims in dozens of attacks on medical facilities have been debunked as false narratives in the past by journalists and medical professionals.
Just last week the Israeli government was caught lying about the circumstances surrounding its army’s execution and burial of 15 Palestinian paramedics and first responders in Gaza, an apparent war crime.
READ: Israel admits killing and burying 15 Palestinian medical workers, White House blames Hamas
Expelling the Palestinian people from their indigenous land has long been a goal of religious Zionists, whose rabbis have often provided counsel to Israeli soldiers and government officials that civilians, even children, can and should all be directly killed by the Israeli army.
In late October 2023, a group of 43 rabbis issued a religious judgement claiming there was no moral prohibition in “Jewish religious law” for the Israeli army to bomb and destroy hospitals in Gaza where Hamas is present if they provide prior evacuation warnings to civilians.
By April 2024 alone, reports from Save the Children and others indicated that 30 of Gaza’s 36 hospitals had been bombed by the Israelis. Such attacks often utilize 2,000 pound bombs manufactured in the United States.
The cumulative effect of such attacks has been the near-total collapse of Gaza’s healthcare system, with only a few hospitals remaining partially operational, contributing to hundreds of thousands of indirect deaths to Palestinian civilians.
Under international law, the targeting of health facilities, medical personnel and patients is classified as a war crime, and if such attacks are systematic and widespread, they may also constitute crimes against humanity.
Additionally on Palm Sunday, the Israeli army demolished a statue of Saint George in the town of Yaroun in southern Lebanon, violating their ceasefire agreement with Hezbollah along with the religious rights of local Christians, constituting another possible war crime.
Israeli occupation forces demolish statue of Saint George in southern Lebanon on Palm Sunday
The Israeli attack comes as Christians marked Palm Sunday, the seventh Sunday of Lent and the last Sunday before Good Friday, which is followed by the commemoration of the Resurrection… pic.twitter.com/5AZnMtUu0p
— Middle East Monitor (@MiddleEastMnt) April 14, 2025
Along with the rest of Palestinians, religious Zionist Jews who have acquired governmental power in Israel since December 2022, intend to expel Christians from their region with at least some of their rabbis calling them “blood sucking vampires” and advocating for the burning of churches.
Following such mass expulsions, these religious Zionists aim to build a third temple for animal sacrifice in Jerusalem and welcome their Moshiach (Messiah) of whom their expectations share a close alignment with what Catholic authorities expect from the Antichrist. And from Jerusalem, these religious Zionists anticipate this figure to subject all other peoples under Noahide Laws, vanquishing Christianity as “idolatry,” and even executing the death penalty against Christians for this supposed crime.
