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The IDF on Sunday struck Hamas positions in Gaza after a rocket was launched from the Strip toward Israeli communities near the border on Saturday night, during Passover’s Seder night and intercepted by the Israeli Air Force.
The military said rocket sirens were sounded in open areas, no injuries were reported and the intercepted rocket was the fourth launched into Israel from Gaza that day.
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Footage of the hospital in Gaza
Following the launch, IDF Arabic-language spokesperson Lt. Col. Avichay Adraee issued an evacuation warning to residents in central Gaza. “To all residents of the Nuseirat refugee camp nearby neighborhoods — this is your final warning before we strike,” he wrote.
“We will strike with maximum force any area from which rockets are fired. The terrorist organizations, particularly Hamas, bear full responsibility for the displacement and suffering of civilians. For your safety, move immediately south to the designated shelters in Al-Mawasi.”
Several hours later, the Hamas-affiliated Shehab news agency reported that the Israeli Air Force had struck Gaza’s Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital in the Zeitoun neighborhood. According to the report, two missiles were fired after the hospital had been evacuated of patients, medical staff and the wounded.
On Sunday morning, just before 10:00 a.m., the IDF and Shin Bet confirmed the strike, saying it targeted a Hamas command and control center in northern Gaza located within the Al-Ahli Hospital.
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“The compound was used by Hamas terrorists to plan and execute terror attacks against Israeli civilians and IDF troops,” the military said. “Prior to the strike, steps were taken to mitigate harm to civilians or to the hospital compound, including issuing advanced warnings in the area of the terror infrastructure, the use of precise munitions, and aerial surveillance.”
The IDF added Hamas “systematically violates international law while using civilian infrastructure, brutally exploiting the civilian population as a human shield for its terrorist activities,” and reiterated its previous warnings that all military use of medical facilities in Gaza must stop.
Later that day, the IDF and Shin Bet announced another strike on a Hamas command compound in Deir al-Balah, in central Gaza. “At the time of the strike, numerous Hamas terrorists were operating from within the compound. The targeted terrorists had planned to carry out additional terrorist attacks,” the statement read.
It also said that precautionary measures were taken to reduce civilian harm, including the use of precision-guided munitions and aerial surveillance.
Gaza’s Health Ministry, controlled by Hamas, said the airstrikes destroyed the hospital’s emergency and reception departments, as well as several laboratories. Medical teams had evacuated patients and staff after receiving a call from Israeli security officials.
No casualties were reported. The hospital’s director, Dr. Fadel Naim, said a nearby pharmacy and adjacent buildings were also heavily damaged, affecting over 100 patients and dozens of staff.
Following the strike, Hamas condemned the attack as a “heinous and vile crime,” accusing Israel of deliberately destroying and disabling 34 hospitals in Gaza as part of a “systematic plan to dismantle what remains of the health sector.”