Gaza's Health Ministry says Israel has struck the largest hospital in
the territory's south
[March 24, 2025]
By WAFAA SHURAFA and SAMY MAGDY
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israel’s military struck the largest
hospital in southern Gaza on Sunday night, killing two people, wounding
others and causing a large fire, the territory's Health Ministry said.
The strike hit the surgical building of Nasser Hospital in the city of
Khan Younis, the ministry said, days after the facility was overwhelmed
with dead and wounded when Israel resumed the war in Gaza last week with
a surprise wave of airstrikes.
Those killed in Sunday night's strike included a 16-year-old boy who
underwent surgery two days ago, according to the Health Ministry. Also
killed was Ismail Barhoum, a member of Hamas’ political bureau, who was
being treated at the hospital, Hamas said in a statement.
Israel’s military confirmed the strike on the hospital, saying it hit a
Hamas militant operating there. Israel blames civilian deaths on Hamas
because it operates in densely populated areas.
Like other medical facilities around Gaza, Nasser Hospital has been
damaged by Israeli raids and strikes throughout the war.
More than 50,000 Palestinians have now been killed in the war, the
Health Ministry said earlier Sunday.
The military claimed to have “eliminated” dozens of militants since
Israel ended a ceasefire Tuesday with strikes that killed hundreds of
people on one of the deadliest days in the 17-month war.
Israel's unrest over Gaza and political issues grew Sunday, with anger
at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as his government voted to express
no confidence in the attorney general, seen by many as a check on the
power of his coalition.
“I’m worried for the future of this country. And I think it has to stop.
We have to change direction,” said Avital Halperin, one of hundreds of
protesters outside Netanyahu's office. Police said three were arrested.
‘Displacement under fire’
Israel's military ordered thousands of Palestinians to leave the heavily
destroyed Tel al-Sultan neighborhood in the southern city of Rafah. They
walked to Muwasi, a sprawling area of squalid tent camps. The war has
forced most of Gaza's population of over 2 million to flee within the
territory, often multiple times.
“It’s displacement under fire,” said Mustafa Gaber, a journalist who
left with his family. He said tank and drone fire echoed nearby.
“The shells are falling among us and the bullets are (flying) above us,"
said Amal Nassar, also displaced. “The elderly have been thrown into the
streets. An old woman was telling her son, ‘Go and leave me to die.’
Where will we go?”
“Enough is enough. We are exhausted," said a fleeing Ayda Abu Shaer, as
smoke rose in the distance.
The Palestinian Red Crescent emergency service said it lost contact with
a 10-member team responding to the strikes in Rafah. Spokesperson Nebal
Farsakh said some were wounded.
Israel's military said it had fired on advancing “suspicious vehicles”
and later discovered some were ambulances and fire trucks.
In Gaza City, an explosion hit next to a tent camp where people had been
told to evacuate. “My husband is blind and started running barefoot, and
my children were running,” said witness Nidaa Hassuna.
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Mourners react during the funeral of Palestinians killed in the
Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip at Nasser Hospital in Khan
Younis, Sunday, March 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Strikes kill Hamas leader
Hamas said Salah Bardawil, a well-known member of its political
bureau, was killed in a strike in Muwasi that also killed his wife.
Israel's military confirmed it.
Hospitals in southern Gaza said they received a further 24 bodies
from strikes overnight, including several women and children.
Gaza’s Health Ministry said 50,021 Palestinians have been killed in
the war, including 673 people since Israel's bombardment on Tuesday
shattered the ceasefire.
Dr. Munir al-Boursh, the ministry's general director, said the dead
include 15,613 children, with 872 of them under 1 year old.
The ministry does not distinguish between civilians and combatants
in its count but says women and children make up over half the dead.
Israel says it has killed around 20,000 fighters, without providing
evidence.
Ceasefire in tatters
The ceasefire that took hold in January paused more than a year of
fighting ignited by Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, attack into Israel, in
which militants killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took
251 hostage. Most captives have been released in ceasefire
agreements or other deals.
In the latest ceasefire's first phase, 25 Israeli hostages and the
bodies of eight others were released in exchange for nearly 2,000
Palestinian prisoners. Israeli forces allowed hundreds of thousands
of people to return home. There was a surge in humanitarian aid
until Israel cut off all supplies to Gaza earlier this month to
pressure Hamas to change the ceasefire agreement.
The sides were supposed to begin negotiations in early February on
the ceasefire's next phase, in which Hamas was to release the
remaining 59 hostages — 35 of them believed to be dead — in exchange
for more Palestinian prisoners, a lasting ceasefire and an Israeli
withdrawal. Those talks never began.
New settlements in the West Bank
Israel’s Cabinet passed a measure creating 13 new settlements in the
occupied West Bank by rezoning existing ones, according to Bezalel
Smotrich, Israel’s far-right finance minister, who is in charge of
settlement construction.
This brings the number of settlements, considered illegal by the
majority of the international community, to 140, said
anti-settlement watchdog group Peace Now. They will receive
independent budgets from Israel and can elect their own local
governments, the group said.
___
Magdy reported from Cairo. Associated Press writers Natalie Melzer
in Nahariya, Israel, and Julia Frankel in Jerusalem contributed.
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