Gaza's Baptist hospital out of action after Israeli army assault: director

One of the last remaining hospitals in the northern Gaza Strip stopped operating on Tuesday after being stormed by the Israeli army, its director said.

Fadel Naim told AFP Israeli troops had attacked the Baptist hospital and arrested doctors, medical staff and patients, destroying part of the building's grounds.

Israel's attack has "put the hospital out of action," he said. "We can't receive any patients or injured."

At least four people who were wounded by Israeli fire on Monday died on Tuesday after being injured in the Baptist hospital assault, he said.

"According to our information, there are dozens of wounded in the surrounding streets," he said.

Hospitals, protected under international humanitarian law, have repeatedly been hit by Israeli strikes in the Gaza Strip since the start of the war on October 7.

The military accuses Hamas of having tunnels under hospitals and using the medical facilities as command centres to plan and carry out attacks against the army and Israel, a charge denied by the Palestinian group.

The Baptist hospital, also known as Al-Ahli or Ahli Arab hospital, was already heavily damaged by an Israeli strike on October 17. According to Gaza's Health Ministry, at least 471 Palestinians, mostly women and their children, were killed in that attack.

Hamas and Islamic Jihad accused Israel, which denied responsibility and blamed a misfired rocket by Islamic Jihad for that blast.