Last hospital in northern Gaza out of service after Israeli attack
An injured mother and child rest after an Israeli airstrike hit a hospital killing 500 people, in Gaza City, Gaza Strip, Palestine, Oct. 17, 2023. (Reuters File Photo)


The last hospital in operation in northern Gaza went out of service on Tuesday after Israeli bombardment, the health ministry said.

"The Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital was forced out of service due to Israeli bombardment, siege and arrest of medics," ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qudra said in a statement.

At least 471 people were killed and many injured in an Israeli airstrike on the Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital on Oct. 17, according to health officials in Gaza.

Israeli troops have previously raided other medical facilities in Gaza, including Al-Shifa, the territory's largest hospital, which is now functioning at minimal capacity with a very small team.

Last month Al-Shifa Hospital became the focus of an extended army operation as part of its war against Hamas.

On Sunday, the World Health Organization said Al-Ahli Hospital was receiving "critical patients" from Al-Shifa for surgery.

The Al-Shifa emergency department, devastated by Israeli bombardments, is "a blood bath" and "in need of resuscitation", the WHO said.

Ashraf al-Qudra, spokesman for the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory, said on Tuesday that another hospital in northern Gaza, Al-Awda in the Jabalia area, had been turned "into a barracks" by the Israeli army.

He said the army was holding 240 people in the hospital, "including 80 medical staff and 40 patients," and had arrested its director, doctor Ahmad Mhanna.

On Sunday WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the agency was "appalled by the effective destruction" of another northern Gaza hospital, Kamal Adwan, where Israeli forces carried out a multi-day operation against Hamas.

Israel is facing mounting international pressure over the rising civilian death toll and destruction of hospitals in Gaza.

Israel has pounded the Gaza Strip since the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas, killing at least 19,667 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injuring 52,586 others, according to health authorities in the enclave.

The Israeli onslaught has left Gaza in ruins with half of the coastal territory's housing stock damaged or destroyed, and nearly 2 million people displaced within the densely-populated enclave amid shortages of food and clean water.

Nearly 1,200 Israelis are believed to have been killed in the Hamas attack, while more than 130 hostages remain in captivity.

Hamas rejects holding talks over prisoner exchange amid genocide

Meanwhile, Hamas rejected holding negotiations over exchanging prisoners during the Israeli war, but is open to any initiative to end it, a senior official from the Palestinian movement said in a statement on Tuesday. "We affirm our position of categorically rejecting to hold any form of negotiations over prisoners exchange under the continuing Israeli genocidal war," Basem Naem said.

"We are, however, open to any initiative that contributes to ending the aggression on our people and opening the crossings to bring in aid and provide relief to the Palestinian people," he added.