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Israeli artillery bombarded the Qatar-funded Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani Hospital for Rehabilitation and Prosthetics in Gaza on Monday, causing material damage.
Qatar swiftly condemned the attack, labeling it as part of a broader assault on Palestinian civilians.
At least one artillery shell struck the hospital’s building, which has been out of service for days due to intensified Israeli attacks in northern Gaza.
The facility, the largest specialized rehabilitation and prosthetics center in Gaza, had briefly resumed operations after months of closure due to prior Israeli strikes on the hospital and its surroundings.
Qatar’s Foreign Ministry denounced “in the strongest terms, the Israeli occupation's bombing of Hamad Hospital for Rehabilitation and Prosthetics in the Gaza Strip.”
It affirmed that “the continued brutal aggression by the occupation on the Gaza Strip, including its repeated targeting of civilians, hospitals, displacement centers and vital facilities, is part of the war of genocide against the brotherly Palestinian people.”
Doha urged the international community to fulfill its moral and legal obligations to halt the “brutal war” and address the catastrophic humanitarian crisis caused by the conflict.
Inaugurated in 2019, the hospital was built under the supervision of the Qatar Committee for the Reconstruction of Gaza, part of Qatar’s Foreign Ministry, with funding from a $407 million grant provided by Qatar in 2012.
Over months of genocide, the hospital and its vicinity have faced repeated Israeli raids and bombardments, forcing intermittent closures.
In November 2023, Israeli army spokesperson Daniel Hagari claimed the military discovered a tunnel used by the Palestinian group Hamas in the hospital’s garden during a ground operation in northern Gaza.
Qatar rejected the claim at the time and again in February 2024, when Mohammed Al-Emadi, head of the Qatar Committee for the Reconstruction of Gaza, condemned the allegation as baseless, lacking concrete evidence or independent verification, according to Qatar News Agency.
He described the accusation as a “transparent attempt” to justify Israel’s targeting of civilian infrastructure, including hospitals, schools and displacement shelters.
Sheikh Hamad Hospital is the fourth medical facility hit by Israeli forces in a week alongside the Gaza European Hospital, Nasser Medical Complex and the Indonesian Hospital, which was besieged on Sunday.
As of May 8, Gaza’s Government Media Office said that 38 hospitals, 81 health centers and 164 health institutions have been destroyed, burned or rendered inoperable during the Israeli genocide.
The Israeli army has pursued a brutal offensive against Gaza since October 2023, killing nearly 53,500 Palestinians, most of them women and children.
The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants last November for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.
