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Al-Ahli Arab Hospital

Coordinates: 31°30′18″N 34°27′41″E / 31.5049°N 34.4615°E / 31.5049; 34.4615
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Al-Ahli Arab Hospital
Anglican Diocese of Jerusalem
Map
Geography
LocationGaza City, Gaza Strip, Palestine
Coordinates31°30′18″N 34°27′41″E / 31.5049°N 34.4615°E / 31.5049; 34.4615
Organisation
FundingNon-profit hospital
TypeGeneral
Religious affiliationAnglican
Services
Beds80[1]
History
Opened1882

Al-Ahli Arab Hospital (Arabic: المستشفى الأهلي العربي, lit. 'The Arab People's Hospital'[2]) is a hospital in the Gaza Strip. Its headquarters are located in the Zeitoun neighborhood in the south of Gaza City, and it is managed by the Episcopal Church in Jerusalem. Founded in 1882, it is one of the oldest hospitals in the city[3][4] and the only Christian hospital in Gaza.[5][6]

History

The hospital has been in operation since 1882. It was established in what was then the Ottoman Empire as a medical mission of the Anglican Church's Church Missionary Society (CMS) following the Anglo-Egyptian War. In 1954, the hospital was purchased by the Foreign Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention, which renamed it the Gaza Baptist Hospital (Arabic: المستشفى المعمداني). In the early 1980s, it was returned to the CMS, which turned it over to the Anglican Diocese of Jerusalem. The diocese changed the name of the hospital to Ahli Arab Hospital.[3][7]

The hospital is the only Christian hospital in the Gaza Strip[5][6] and Gaza's only cancer hospital.[8] It normally handles around 300 surgeries and 600 radiological and a total of 3,000 outpatient visits per month.[9] It is supported by international charities such as Embrace the Middle East.[10]

1948–1987

After the 1948 Arab–Israeli War and occupation of the Gaza Strip by Egypt, the American Baptist Foreign Mission Society operated the hospital. The Baptist society left in 1982, and an international alliance of donors that included Church World Service, DanChurchAid, and the Presbyterian Church (USA) interceded.[5]

Al-Ahli had a urology department. In 1985, Al-Ahli commenced its dental and ophthalmology departments, and had a large burn unit. By June 1987, there were redevelopment funds secured from a German charity, which included support for a new building, as well as plans to lease hospital land to local developers for a shopping center to provide an additional funding stream. The hospital had five dunams of land and planned to allocate two of them to develop commercially, of which one fourth of the generated income would be used to construct a new multi-story hospital building.[5]

1987–2005: First and Second Intifada

The First Intifada transformed the hospital's daily operations during the Intifada's first year to "manage the increasing number of casualties". In 1996, in response to a series of bus bombings, Israel shut Gaza’s borders, which halted commercial and agricultural goods transport. The hospital's annual report said this also closed off transport of medicine and humanitarian aid. Al Ahli was appointed as a frontline hospital for casualties during the Second Intifada.[5]

2023–2024: Israel–Hamas war

Rocket strike at Cancer Diagnostic Centre

According to the Anglican Communion News Service, at 7:30 p.m. EEST on 14 October 2023, the hospital's Diagnostic Cancer Treatment Centre was damaged by Israeli rockets, causing four hospital staff members to be injured and severely damaging two of its upper floors, with the mammography and ultrasound departments affected the most.[11][12] The Israeli Defense Forces did not respond to BBC inquiries about this strike.[13]

Explosion

Main article: Al-Ahli Arab Hospital explosion

Three days later, on the evening of 17 October, an explosion occurred in the courtyard which was housing thousands of displaced people as a result of the war. According to preliminary tolls by the Gaza Health Ministry, this explosion led to the deaths of 200–500 Palestinians and the injury of more than 600 others.[11][14][15] Gaza's civil defence teams estimated over 300 people had been killed.[14] An independent analysis by Human Rights Watch concluded that the cause of the explosion was likely a misfired Palestinian rocket.[16] Human Rights Watch stated that the available evidence made an Israeli airstrike "highly unlikely".[17]

2024

As of February 2024, Al-Ahli Hospital was functioning at 30 per cent capacity and operated 100 per cent on solar power. The World Health Organization arrived at Al-Ahli in March 2024, bringing trauma supplies and fuel.[5] In July 2024, the hospital was forcibly closed and evacuated, leading to condemnation by the Archbishop of Canterbury, who stated, "In the face of intense Israeli bombardment, this closure puts injured and sick people in even greater danger".[18]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Al-Ahli Hospital, Gaza". Diocese of Jerusalem. Retrieved 17 October 2023.
  2. ^ "Ahli Arab Hospital, Gaza City". American Friends of the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem. 21 May 2019. Retrieved 17 October 2023.
  3. ^ a b Paulsen, David (16 October 2023). "Anglican hospital among facilities struggling to respond to growing humanitarian crisis in Gaza". Episcopal News Service. Retrieved 17 October 2023.
  4. ^ "'Living stones' of Al Ahli Arab Hospital build a ministry of healing, witness in Gaza". Episcopal News Service. Retrieved 27 March 2018.
  5. ^ a b c d e f "Al Ahli Hospital, Gaza". Presbyterian Historical Society. Retrieved 27 April 2024.
  6. ^ a b Ackerman, Andrew (17 October 2023). "What We Know About the Gaza Hospital Blast". The Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on 18 October 2023.
  7. ^ Barnett, Carlton Carter III (May 2021). "Anglo-American Missionary Medicine in Gaza, 1882-1981" (PDF). Master's Thesis. University of Texas (Austin): 1–2, 97–98. Archived from the original (PDF) on 19 October 2023.
  8. ^ Gostoli, Ylenia. "Gaza's only cancer hospital could shut down amid Israel's war and siege". www.aljazeera.com. Al Jazeera English. Archived from the original on 24 October 2023. Retrieved 26 October 2023.
  9. ^ Boorstein, Michelle; Brasch, Ben (17 October 2023). "Gaza hospital where hundreds were killed is owned by Anglican Communion branch". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on 18 October 2023. Retrieved 28 October 2023.
  10. ^ "Embrace the Middle East's Work in Israel/Palestine". Embrace the Middle East. Retrieved 17 October 2023.
  11. ^ a b "Gaza hospitals are 'facing catastrophe', says Archbishop of Canterbury". Archbishop of Canterbury. Retrieved 17 October 2023.
  12. ^
  13. ^ Brown, Paul; Cheetham, Joshua; Seddon, Sean; Palumbo, Daniele (18 October 2023). "What video, pictures and other evidence tell us about Gaza hospital blast". BBC News. Retrieved 27 October 2023.
  14. ^ a b Borger, Julian (17 October 2023). "Hundreds feared dead after blast at Gaza hospital as Biden set to fly in". The Guardian. Retrieved 17 October 2023.
  15. ^ "WHO statement on attack on Al Ahli Arab Hospital and reported large-scale casualties". WHO. Retrieved 27 October 2023.
  16. ^ "Human Rights Watch says rocket misfire likely cause of deadly Gaza hospital blast". Reuters. 26 November 2023. Retrieved 27 November 2023.
  17. ^ Human Rights Watch (26 November 2023). Gaza: Findings on October 17 al-Ahli Hospital Explosion - Evidence Points to Misfired Rocket but Full Investigation Needed (Report). Archived from the original on 1 December 2023.
  18. ^ Davies, Madeline. "Archbishop Welby condemns closure of Al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza, after Israeli warning". Church Times. Retrieved 20 July 2024.
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