14-05-2025
Patients evacuated from Gaza's European Hospital after Israeli firebelt tears through grounds, killing 28
Israel launched a series of airstrikes targeting the Gaza European Hospital in Khan Younis on Wednesday evening, extensively damaging the facility, killing 28 people and forcing authorities to evacuate patients, medics and eyewitnesses told Mada Masr.
Amr Tabash was in the courtyard of the hospital after 6 pm, when the bombs began to drop in the perimeter.
The force of the intense bombardment threw him and several others meters into the air, he told Mada Masr, describing hearing multiple explosions in quick succession around the hospital.
Another eyewitness to the firebelt, Salem al-Amour, said that the attack encircled almost the entire perimeter of the hospital. Images published by Gaza's Health Ministry showed wide craters extending deep into the grounds and extensive damage to the interior of the wards.
The force of the explosions was severe and shrapnel flew everywhere, ripping through some of the hospital's departments, Tabash said.
The impact caused severe injuries to already sick and wounded patients.
Amour said that the hospital was crowded with civilians at the time of the attack, many of whom were injured and killed. 'Bodies were everywhere,' he said. 'Limbs were torn apart here and there inside the hospital, while shrapnel flew overhead, and many civilians outside the hospital were injured.'
Soldiers in Israeli helicopters also fired heavily at anyone trying to enter the hospital to rescue the wounded in the wake of the attack, said Amour, an account echoed by Mahmoud Basal, spokesperson for the Palestinian Civil Defense in Gaza, who told Mada Masr that members of the agency were injured by Israeli fire at the hospital after arriving at the scene.
The civil defense crews were able to retrieve 28 bodies from inside the hospital and from the surrounding homes that were also hit by the strikes, Basal said.
Both Amour and Basal described severe damage to people's homes near the hospital. 'The home of the Afghany family, who live near the hospital, was crowded with people and they were massacred as a result of the firebelt,' said Basal.
The Israeli military claimed it had targeted underground facilities belonging to Hamas using 'precise' munitions. Media outlets cited security sources saying that Mohamed Sinwar, military commander of the Qassam Brigades, was the target of the attack.
Marwan al-Homs, the director of field hospitals in Gaza, told Mada Masr that the Gaza European Hospital declared a maximum emergency and ceased operations after the attack. The injured were transferred to the Nasser Medical Complex, also in Khan Younis.
The Gaza European Hospital was targeted just hours after Israel targeted the burns unit at the Nasser Medical Complex, killing journalist Hassan Eslaih and another patient receiving treatment and causing extensive damage to the ward. 'These attacks are a complete crime,' said Homs.
