In the heart of Gaza’s humanitarian catastrophe, even hospitals are no longer safe. An Israeli airstrike struck the administrative building of Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah on Wednesday, triggering terror among patients, doctors, and families seeking refuge in one of central Gaza’s last functioning medical centres.

The attack, which the Gaza Ministry of Health condemned as part of a deliberate campaign against the healthcare system, underscores the growing sense that no place in Gaza is spared, not schools, not homes, and not hospitals. With more than 23 hospitals shut down and others on the brink of collapse due to shortages, this strike delivers yet another blow to a system struggling to treat the injured, the sick, and the displaced.

This is not the first time Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital has been hit. In October 2024, Israeli strikes targeted areas within its grounds, killing civilians and journalists. While Israel continues to justify such attacks by invoking claims of militant activity, human rights organisations question the legality of bombing sites that serve as sanctuaries for the wounded and displaced.

The human cost of this war is staggering. Over 176,000 Palestinians have been killed or wounded since the assault began, most of them women and children. And as Gaza’s medical lifelines are bombed one after the other, the message becomes chillingly clear: survival itself is being targeted.