Timeline: Israel’s Attacks on Gaza’s Healthcare System

The Palestinian Health Ministry warned earlier this week that hospitals and medical centres in Gaza were facing “dangerous and unprecedented” shortages of essential medicines as a result of Israel’s blockade.

The ministry said that 37 percent of essential drugs and 59 percent of medical supplies were completely out of stock, along with 54 percent of medications used to treat cancer and blood diseases.

Emergency, surgical and intensive care units had been operating with severely depleted life-saving treatments, while around 80,000 diabetic patients and 110,000 with high blood pressure were no longer receiving care.

The ministry said Israel’s siege that cut off Gaza from food, fuel and medicine, among other vital supplies, is worsening the crisis and creating “catastrophic” challenges for treating patients and the wounded.

Al-Ahli Hospital is one of 36 hospitals that have been bombed, burned or destroyed by the Israeli military since the start of the war, according to the Government Media Office in Gaza on Sunday.

The World Health Organization reported last month that 33 of Gaza’s 36 hospitals had been damaged during the assault, and only 21 remained partly functional. The WHO also warned on Saturday that hospitals in Gaza face a looming medicine shortage because Israel has blocked aid deliveries for six weeks.

Here’s a list of some of the major attacks on healthcare in Gaza since October 2023:

October 17, 2023

Hundreds of people sheltering in the car park of al-Ahli Hospital were killed in an Israeli attack, according to Palestinian health officials. In the days leading up to the incident, the hospital director reportedly received warnings from Israel. Israel claimed that the explosion at the facility was misfired rocket launched by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, an allegation denied by the armed group.

November 3, 2023

An ambulance convoy was destroyed by an Israeli air attack outside al-Shifa Hospital, killing many Palestinians.

November 21, 2023

An air raid on al-Awda Hospital killed Dr. Mahmoud Abu Nujaila and Dr. Ahmad al-Sahar of Doctors Without Borders (MSF), and another doctor, Ziad al-Tatari.

January 22, 2024

Several people were killed while sheltering about 150 metres (about 500 feet) from the entrance of Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis. Evacuees sheltering in the area suffered due to attacks and forced evacuation orders.

March 20, 2024

The Israeli military said it killed 90 people in its raid on al-Shifa Hospital during a siege as displaced Palestinians sheltering in the facility described long detentions and abuse.

March 31, 2024

Many people were killed and injured in an air raid on the yard of Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah, just outside the emergency room where many internally displaced people were sheltering.

April 1, 2024

A 14-day siege of al-Shifa Hospital, the largest hospital in the enclave, by Israeli forces saw hundreds of people killed, including medical staff, and mass arrests of its staff and others.

October 14, 2024

An Israeli air attack on Al-Aqsa Hospital killed five people and wounded 65. Tents of displaced people caught fire while people were sleeping.

December 28, 2024

The Israeli forces arrested Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, the director of Kamal Adwan Hospital, after refusing to follow orders to abandon one of the last functioning hospitals in northern Gaza. His arrest came a day after the military killed approximately 20 Palestinians in a raid inside the hospital, which was one of the “largest operations” conducted in the territory until that time.

November 2023

Israeli forces laid siege to the Indonesia Hospital in Beit Lahiya for days. The Israeli forces left the hospital in ruins, with charred and decomposing bodies piling up in corners.

January 4, 2025

The Indonesian Hospital in north Gaza was put out of service following repeated attacks by Israeli forces, according to Gaza’s Ministry of Health.

March 23, 2025

Israeli forces reportedly shot 15 aid workers dead during a rescue mission in Rafah’s Tal al-Sultan neighbourhood. A video recovered from the mobile phone of one of the killed Palestinian medics showed Israeli forces’ involvement, igniting widespread outrage. On Sunday, the Palestinian Red Crescent confirmed that paramedic Asaad Al-Nasasra has been kidnapped by Israeli forces. He was last seen with fellow medics when Israeli forces opened heavy fire on their ambulances. The Israelis killed eight of his colleagues in addition to other workers from the civil defense and one UN employee.