Gaza - July 14, 2024

The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) bombed a key children care hospital, Patient's Friends Charitable Hospital, in Gaza City's Tel al-Hawa neighborhood over the past few days, killing five people and destroying many parts of the hospital.

Palestinian civil defense crew said they had recovered five dead people from the hospital's corridors, and the bombing had also caused widespread destruction to the surrounding area.

The hospital was also subjected to Israeli bombing in mid-February of this year, bringing its operations to a halt. Local donors and international institutions rehabilitated the hospital which reopened in June due to the urgency of Gazans needing health care.

The closure of the hospital especially impacts young people, given it provides specialized medical care to malnourished children.

The continuation and repetition of Israeli military operations in Gaza City only leads to more destruction, losses and displacement of thousands of civilians, whose hopes for an end to their suffering and for the war to be over soon are diminishing.

Gaza-based health authorities said on Monday that the Palestinian death toll had risen to 38,664 since the latest round of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict broke out in October of last year.

Shotlist:
Gaza City, Gaza Strip - July 14, 2024:
1. Various of exterior, interior of destroyed Patient's Friends Charitable Hospital;
2. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr. Saeed Salah, medical director, Patient's Friends Charitable Hospital:
"[In] the first attack, the damage was less than [this attack's] damage, because the building was completely destroyed, [including] the sterilization department and the washing machine department. In many of the wars before, the building was just burning, now I'm not speaking about burning, I'm speaking about the destroying of the rooms of the patients.";
FILE: Gaza City, Gaza Strip - Feb 2024
3. Various of exterior, interior of destroyed Patient's Friends Charitable Hospital;
FILE: Gaza City, Gaza Strip - June 2024
4. Exterior of renovated Patient's Friends Charitable Hospital;
5. Various of workers cleaning window, preparing medical supplies;
6. Operating room;
Gaza City, Gaza Strip - July 14, 2024
7. Various of interior of destroyed Patient's Friends Charitable Hospital;
8. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Umm Muhammad, Gazan resident:
"This is the only hospital that works in north of Gaza Strip and that provides care for children because all the hospitals in the Gaza Strip are out of service, especially in the northern region. It is the only hospital that provides care for children with malnutrition.";
9. Various of exterior, interior of destroyed Patient's Friends Charitable Hospital.

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