| Al-Ahli Arab Hospital | |
|---|---|
| Anglican Diocese of Jerusalem | |
 | |
| Geography | |
| Location | Gaza City,Gaza Strip,Palestine |
| Coordinates | 31°30′18″N34°27′41″E / 31.5049°N 34.4615°E /31.5049; 34.4615 |
| Organisation | |
| Type | General |
| Religious affiliation | Anglican |
| Services | |
| Beds | 80[1] |
| History | |
| Opened | 1882 |
Al-Ahli Arab Baptist Hospital (Arabic:المستشفى الأهلي العربي المعمداني,lit. 'The Arab Baptist National Hospital'[2]), usually called theBaptist Hospital for short (Arabic:المستشفى المعمداني),[3][4] is a hospital in theGaza Strip. Its headquarters are located in theZeitoun neighborhood in the south ofGaza City,Palestine, and it is managed by theEpiscopal Church in Jerusalem. Founded in 1882, it is one of the oldest hospitals in the city[5][6] and the onlyChristian hospital in Gaza.[7][8]
The hospital has been in operation since 1882. It was established in what was then theOttoman Empire as amedical mission of theAnglican Church'sChurch Missionary Society (CMS) following theAnglo-Egyptian War. In 1954, the hospital was purchased by theForeign Mission Board of theSouthern Baptist Convention, which renamed it theGaza Baptist Hospital (Arabic:المستشفى المعمداني). In the early 1980s, it was returned to the CMS, which turned it over to theAnglican Diocese of Jerusalem. The diocese changed the name of the hospital to Ahli Arab Hospital.[5][9]
The hospital is the only Christian hospital in the Gaza Strip.[7][8] It normally handles around 300 surgeries and 600 radiological and a total of 3,000 outpatient visits per month.[10] It is supported by international charities such asEmbrace the Middle East.[11]
After the1948 Arab–Israeli War andoccupation of the Gaza Strip by Egypt, theAmerican Baptist Foreign Mission Society operated the hospital. The Baptist society left in 1982, and an international alliance of donors that includedChurch World Service,DanChurchAid, and thePresbyterian Church (USA) interceded.[7]
Al-Ahli had a urology department. In 1985, Al-Ahli commenced its dental and ophthalmology departments, and had a large burn unit. By June 1987, there were redevelopment funds secured from a German charity, which included support for a new building, as well as plans to lease hospital land to local developers for a shopping center to provide an additional funding stream. The hospital had fivedunams of land and planned to allocate two of them to develop commercially, of which one fourth of the generated income would be used to construct a new multi-story hospital building.[7]
TheFirst Intifada transformed the hospital's daily operations during the Intifada's first year to "manage the increasing number of casualties". In 1996, in response to aseries of bus bombings, Israel shut Gaza’s borders, which halted commercial and agricultural goods transport. The hospital's annual report said this also closed off transport of medicine and humanitarian aid. Al Ahli was appointed as a frontline hospital for casualties during theSecond Intifada.[7]
According to the Anglican Communion News Service, at 7:30 p.m.EEST on 14 October 2023, the hospital's Diagnostic Cancer Treatment Centre was damaged by Israeli rockets, causing four hospital staff members to be injured and severely damaging two of its upper floors, with themammography andultrasound departments affected the most.[12][13] TheIsraeli Defense Forces did not respond toBBC inquiries about this strike.[14]
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On 17 October 2023, an explosion took place in a courtyard of al-Ahli Arab Hospital inGaza City during theGaza war, resulting in a large number of displaced Palestinians seeking shelter there being killed or injured.
International media initially reported that over 500 Palestinians were killed according to theGaza Health Ministry, but this was a mistranslation of a report that had mentioned over 500 total victims, including injured.[15][16][17] The Gaza Health Ministry later reported a more precise figure of 471 killed and 342 wounded. A report by Human Rights Watch questioned the Health Ministry's casualty figures. The Anglican Diocese of Jerusalem, which manages the hospital, reported 200 people killed, while the US assessed a figure between 100 and 300.[18]
The cause of the explosion is contested. Israel, the United States, France, the United Kingdom, and Canada said that their intelligence sources indicated that the cause of the explosion was a failedrocket launch from within Gaza by thePalestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ). Hamas and PIJ stated the explosion was caused by an Israeli airstrike.[19]
In the days after the incident, several organizations concluded that an errant rocket from Gaza was the likeliest explanation, including theAssociated Press,CNN,The Economist,The Guardian, andThe Wall Street Journal.[20]Le Monde and theNew York Times rejected the Israeli interpretation ofAl Jazeera andN12 footage cited as evidence of a stray rocket from Gaza hitting the hospital, while noting that other evidence was consistent with that hypothesis and concluding that the cause of the blast remained uncertain.[21][22] In November 2023,Human Rights Watch said that the available evidence made an Israeli airstrike "highly unlikely".[18]
Investigations byChannel 4 News,[23]Al Jazeera,[24] and research groups Earshot[25][26] andForensic Architecture (FA) contested Israeli claims of a misfired Palestinian rocket being responsible for the blast.[27] In its investigation on 20 October 2023, Forensic Architecture concluded that the blast was the result of a munition fired from the direction of Israel.[28] Subsequent investigations by Forensic Architecture published in February and October 2024 — the first one tracking, in 3D, each rocket in a volley of Palestinian rockets that Israel accused of striking the hospital, and the latter including situated testimony fromDr. Ghassan Abu Sitta — were said by the organisation to cast further doubt on the errant rocket launch theory.[29][30]
As of February 2024, Al-Ahli Hospital was functioning at 30 per cent capacity and operated 100 per cent on solar power. The World Health Organization arrived at Al-Ahli in March 2024, bringing trauma supplies and fuel.[7] In July 2024, the hospital was forcibly closed and evacuated, leading to condemnation by theArchbishop of Canterbury, who stated, "In the face of intense Israeli bombardment, this closure puts injured and sick people in even greater danger".[31]
On 13 April 2025, Israel bombed a part of the hospital, taking out its emergency department. The attack was conducted after patients were evacuated and there were no casualties reported.[32] However, according to thePalestinian Centre for Human Rights, one child died during the evacuation due to interruption of medical care.[33]
The Forensic Architecture agency, a UK-based organisation which investigates human rights abuses, has carried out its own analysis of the crater, and suggests it is more consistent with the impact marks from an artillery shell which it concludes came from the direction of Israel.
The Forensic Architecture agency, a UK-based organisation which investigates human rights abuses, has carried out its own analysis of the crater, and suggests it is more consistent with the impact marks from an artillery shell which it concludes came from the direction of Israel.
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