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On April 13, an overnight Israeli airstrike on al-Ahli al-Arabi Baptist Hospital rendered what was the last fully functioning hospital in Gaza non-operational.
Gaza’s Civil Defense agency and Palestinian news outlets reported the destruction of several critical hospital units, including the surgery building, the oxygen generation station for intensive care units, the emergency ward, the laboratory, and the pharmacy.
The Civil Defense and eyewitnesses confirmed that the airstrike came just minutes after the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) issued an evacuation order for patients, many of whom were severely injured.
While the strike reportedly did not cause direct deaths immediately, at least three patients were killed, including a child being treated for head injuries, after being forced out of the hospital without proper care and amid the criminal shortage of medical supplies, facilities, and all necessities to sustain life under Israel’s total blockade of Gaza.
Newscord, an AI platform that monitors media bias and manipulation, once again derailed the disparity in coverage between hospital bombings in Gaza and similar attacks in Ukraine.
The platform pointed out that in the case of al-Ahli Hospital, BBC’s headline read “Gaza Hospital hit by Israeli strike, Hamas says,” while The Guardian used “Gaza City hospital hit, civil defence officials say, as Israel intensifies military operations”—both headlines relying on hearsay, with no direct naming of the attacker.
Western outlets also frequently use phrasing like “Hamas says” or “Hamas-run health ministry” to cast doubt on the reality of Israeli war crimes in Gaza, furthering Israel’s narrative and legitimizing genocide.
In contrast, when covering similar events in Ukraine, BBC said “At least 32 people killed in Russian ballistic missile attack on Sumy,” and The Guardian stated “Russian missile strike kills at least 20 in Ukrainian city of Sumy”—both headlines clearly identifying the perpetrator and specifying casualties.
Observers have noted that Western audiences, even those sympathetic to Gaza, often place more trust in major Western media outlets over local Palestinian sources, despite the latter risking their lives to document Israeli crimes for over 18 months. This makes the deliberate misreporting and distortion by major media outlets all the more abhorrent, as Palestinians are forced to endure both a traumatizing genocide and constant gaslighting by the global press.
Earlier this month, video evidence emerged showing the deliberate killing of at least 14 Palestinian paramedics, contradicting Israel’s claims that the victims’ vehicles were advancing “suspiciously” without emergency signals.
Gazan poet and genocide survivor Mosab Abu Toha shared a CNN headline on the incident stating “Video showing final moments of Gaza emergency workers casts doubt on Israeli account of killings.” Reacting to the article’s framing of irrefutable evidence, Mosab said: “’Cast doubt’? My heart is going to explode”— a sentiment echoing the collective outrage of those who have closely followed the media’s biased reporting since October 2023.
“Do you remember 18 months ago when the Israeli occupation bombed the same hospital (the Baptist hospital), and the media was debating who was responsible?” read a post from the social media accounts of slain Palestinian journalist Hossam Shabat, referencing the repeat bombing of al-Ahli Hospital since the start of Israel’s genocide.
“Today, the Israeli occupation bombed the last functioning hospital in Gaza City. They also bombed one of the few remaining UNRWA flour distribution centers, in addition to the ongoing massacres all day, every day,” the statement continued.
“They no longer care to deny it…they brag about it,” the statement concluded, pointing to how the attacks on Gaza’s civilian infrastructure have become disgustingly permissible.
Israel has destroyed 34 hospitals in what many view as a systematic effort to dismantle Gaza’s healthcare system as part of its ethnic cleansing campaign.
The attack on al-Ahli Hospital coincided with Palm Sunday, one of the holiest days in the Christian calendar and a significant celebration for Palestinians in the birthplace of Christianity. The Higher Presidential Committee for Church Affairs in Palestine condemned the airstrike on the Anglican-run hospital as an affront to Christians worldwide.
“The attack […] constitutes a grave violation of religious sanctity and fundamental principles of international humanitarian law,” stated the committee.
Since the beginning of Israel’s genocide in Gaza, many have drawn parallels to the story of Jesus— a Jewish Palestinian born under occupation and executed by the occupying Roman power. These comparisons have only sharpened in light of the failure of many Western Christian Zionists to acknowledge that Jesus, his legacy, and his very bloodline are being executed daily in the occupied Palestinian lands.
