Today is Palm Sunday when Christians around the world prepare to mark the beginning of Holy Week. It's also the day the Israeli government chose to bomb the only Christian-run hospital in northern Gaza, the Al Ahli Baptist Hospital, the last partially functioning hospital in Gaza city - again. If anyone chose to ask, the IDF would say that there is no significance to the day on which they chose to bomb the hospital, as this is the fifth time the hospital has been targeted. This time there is no mention of a missile misfire. No-one else to blame. This, they will tell you, is a command and control centre, and therefore a legitimate target. To date, the IDF have not provided evidence to back up this claim. In fact, the only available evidence is of Israel's systematic dismantling of the Gazan healthcare system - one hospital at a time. In targeting the Al Ahli, a hospital protected under international law, it is destroying one of the last places offering hope and care. And the world barely notices.
The Al Ahli is in fact the oldest medical facility in Gaza and can trace its roots back to 1882 when the Church Missionary Society opened a simple dispensary. Funds were raised for establishing a permanent medical mission and in March 1891 a hospital adapted from a native house was opened. Rev. Dr. Robert B. Sterling arrived in 1893 and expanded the services offered by the hospital to include in-patient care. It's reputation grew and in 1906 the Muslim community presented Dr. Sterling with £100 which they had collected in token of their gratitude for his work among them. The hospital and out-patient hall were now much too small to match its growing reputation and on 1 April 1908 the Bishop of Jerusalem dedicated a new hospital containing forty-six beds followed by the opening of a spacious out-patient block on 22 February 1911. The new hospital, providing care for Jews, Christians and Muslims, was known locally as Dr. Sterly's.
In his report back to the Palestine Exploration Fund in 1914, Stewart Newcombe called the hospital:
"The best place in the whole of this country"
For more information on this important and historical hospital please see my previous post Dr. Sterlys - A story of Gazan healthcare
Today, 13 April 2025, significant parts of the Anglican Church run hospital were destroyed by the IDF after issuing a warning to evacuate the patients and staff. Hospital beds, children in arms and critically-ill patients were forcibly displaced from the site in great haste in a pre-dawn strike that struck fear in patients, medical staff and those seeking shelter within its environs.
"Footage on social media showed staff and patients leaving the building while it was still dark outside. Dozens of Palestinians, including women and children, were also seen fleeing from a courtyard inside the hospital where they had been seeking shelter." (BBC)
One child who previously suffered a brain injury died as a result of "the rushed evacuation process", according to a statement from the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem, which is affiliated to the hospital. The ambulance and emergency department was destroyed in the double strike as well as the central laboratory, the reception and the pharmacy. It is now effectively out of service.
Today a heavy silence of injustice persists on this Palm Sunday in Palestine. This action will not bring security. It will not bring back the Israeli hostages. It will not end this war.
BOOK RECOMMENDATION:
ONE DAY EVERYONE WILL ALWAYS HAVE BEEN AGAINST THIS by Omar El Akkad
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| Published by Canongate, 2025 |
British historian and writer, David Olusoga, says: "To get a glimpse of how we in the twenty-first century might one day be judged for our passivity and hypocrisy, I urge you to read Omar El Akkad's astonishing book."
UPDATE
More than 50,933 people have been killed in Gaza since 7 October 2023. Of those, 1,563 have been killed since 18 March 2025, when Israel restarted its offensive in the Gaza Strip.
