The Palestinian Ministry of Health has condemned in the strongest terms the latest Israeli airstrikes that struck Al-Rantisi Children’s Hospital late Tuesday night, calling the attack a deliberate attempt to collapse Gaza’s already devastated healthcare system.

According to the ministry’s statement on Wednesday morning, the occupation forces carried out three consecutive airstrikes, each separated by mere minutes, directly targeting the upper floors of the hospital. The ministry described the assault as part of a “systematic policy aimed at disabling Gaza’s healthcare system and denying children their right to life-saving treatment.”

Gaza’s Only Children’s Hospital Under Attack

Al-Rantisi Children’s Hospital is Gaza’s sole specialist facility for pediatric care, serving children with cancer, kidney failure, and severe respiratory or digestive illnesses. Its oncology and dialysis units are among the few lifelines left for thousands of children under the Israeli blockade.

At the time of the attack, 80 young patients were inside the hospital. Among them were four children in intensive care units and eight newborns in neonatal incubators. The repeated strikes forced half of the patients and their families — 40 people in total — to flee in terror and seek refuge elsewhere, despite many requiring urgent medical supervision.

Medical Staff Risking Their Lives

Despite the risk of further bombardment, 30 doctors, nurses, and other medical staff remained at the hospital to care for 40 patients who were too fragile to be evacuated, including 12 in need of intensive care support. The ministry warned that any further attack could have catastrophic consequences, potentially leading to the deaths of children dependent on ventilators, dialysis machines, and constant medical attention.

Systematic Targeting of Healthcare

Health officials stressed that the attack on Al-Rantisi was not an isolated incident but part of a broader Israeli campaign to destroy Gaza’s healthcare infrastructure. In recent months, hospitals, ambulances, and medical workers have been repeatedly targeted, severely reducing Gaza’s capacity to treat the wounded and sick amid the ongoing assault.

“This is a war on life itself,” the ministry said. “Targeting a children’s hospital is a war crime under international law, yet the occupation continues to strike medical facilities with impunity.”

The ministry called on international organizations, including the World Health Organization and the International Committee of the Red Cross, to urgently intervene to protect Gaza’s hospitals and medical workers and to hold Israel accountable for its crimes against civilians. (ILKHA)