Gaza City: The Higher Presidential Committee for Church Affairs in Palestine has unequivocally condemned the deliberate targeting and destruction of the Al-Ahli Arab (Baptist) Hospital, which is affiliated with the Anglican Church, in Gaza City by Israeli occupation forces. The attack, which took place on Palm Sunday, a significant day in the Christian calendar, has been labeled as a grave violation of religious sanctity and fundamental principles of international humanitarian law.
According to Palestine News and Information Agency - WAFA, the Committee's Head, Ramzi Khouri, who is also a member of the Executive Committee of the PLO, issued an official statement describing the targeting of the only Christian hospital in the Gaza Strip as a direct insult to Christians in Palestine and worldwide. The hospital, established in the 19th century, was a civilian medical institution providing critical services to hundreds of patients and wounded individuals daily.
The statement confirmed that the Israeli airstrike hit both the emergency intensive care unit and the hospital's pharmacy, leading to the death of a 13-year-old child during an emergency evacuation, following prior injuries to the head. The Committee emphasized that this incident cannot be regarded as isolated or accidental but as part of a systematic and deliberate policy aimed at dismantling the health sector and other essential components of life in the Gaza Strip.
According to the Committee, the attack is one of a series of systematic assaults by the Israeli military, which has deliberately destroyed 34 hospitals in the Gaza Strip since the beginning of the ongoing aggression. These actions are part of a broader policy of collective punishment, including enforced starvation, denial of access to water and medical supplies, and the intentional collapse of health infrastructure, all in breach of the Geneva Conventions and established norms of international humanitarian law.
The statement held the international community, particularly the United Nations Security Council, fully responsible for the continued failure to protect civilians, halt acts of genocide against the Palestinian people, guarantee sustained humanitarian access, and facilitate immediate relief and reconstruction operations.
The Committee urged churches, ecclesiastical councils worldwide, and humanitarian and religious institutions to assume their moral responsibilities by breaking their silence, condemning this grave violation, and taking concrete measures to protect what remains of Gaza's humanitarian institutions. It also called for solidarity with the Palestinian people, who are enduring a systematic campaign of extermination.
The statement concluded by affirming that the international community's silence regarding the bombing of a hospital devoted to saving lives on a sacred religious observance day represents a deep moral failure and a permanent stain on the conscience of humanity.
