Israel blows up Gaza’s only specialised cancer hospital in massive blast

Al Jazeera :

Israel has blown up Gaza’s only specialised cancer treatment hospital, as well as an adjacent medical school, drawing condemnation for again targeting a medical facility, which is banned under international humanitarian law.

Friday’s explosion flattened central Gaza’s Turkish-Palestinian Friendship Hospital, which had already been severely damaged by Israeli air strikes since October 2023.

Footage posted online showed a massive ball of fire and smoke rising from the location after the Israeli military carried out the demolition.

It came as Israel announced that it was expanding its operation in the so-called Netzarim Corridor near the hospital, and blocked all movement on Salah al-Din Street.

Al Jazeera correspondent Tareq Abu Azzoum, who is reporting from Gaza’s Deir el-Balah, said the destruction has left thousands of patients in the besieged territory with nowhere to go for cancer treatment, amid the resumption of the deadly Israeli military operation.

The third floor of the hospital was previously hit in an Israeli air strike on October 30, 2023.

Fuel shortages forced the hospital to shut down on November 1, 2023, with the UN warning the lives of 70 patients were at risk.

It later emerged that four patients died at the hospital due to a lack of medical care.