Al-Ahli Arab Hospital Explained

Al-Ahli Arab Hospital
Org/Group:Anglican Diocese of Jerusalem
Coordinates:31.5049°N 34.4615°W
Location:Gaza City
Region:Gaza Strip
Country:Palestine
Funding:Nonprofit
Type:General
Religious Affiliation:Anglican
Beds:80[1]
Opened:1882

Al-Ahli Arab Hospital (Arabic: المستشفى الأهلي العربي|lit=The Arab People's Hospital[2]) is a hospital in Gaza City. Its headquarters are located in the Zeitoun neighborhood in the south of the 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]

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] [6]

The hospital is the only Christian hospital in the Gaza Strip[7] 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.

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.

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.

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] [13] The Israeli Defense Forces did not respond to BBC inquiries about this strike.[14]

Explosion

See 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 Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry, this explosion led to the deaths of 200 - 500 Palestinians and the injury of more than 600 others.[15] [16] [17] Gaza's civil defence teams estimated over 300 people had been killed. An independent analysis by Human Rights Watch concluded that the cause of the explosion was likely a misfired Palesinian rocket.[18] Human Rights Watch stated that the available evidence made an Israeli airstrike "highly unlikely".[19]

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. 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".[20]

See also

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Al-Ahli Hospital, Gaza . 17 October 2023 . Diocese of Jerusalem . en-US.
  2. Web site: 21 May 2019 . Ahli Arab Hospital, Gaza City . 17 October 2023 . American Friends of the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem.
  3. News: Paulsen . David . 16 October 2023 . Anglican hospital among facilities struggling to respond to growing humanitarian crisis in Gaza . 17 October 2023 . Episcopal News Service.
  4. News: 'Living stones' of Al Ahli Arab Hospital build a ministry of healing, witness in Gaza . 27 March 2018 . Episcopal News Service.
  5. Web site: Al Ahli Hospital, Gaza . 2024-04-27 . Presbyterian Historical Society.
  6. Barnett . Carlton Carter III . Anglo-American Missionary Medicine in Gaza, 1882-1981 . Master's Thesis . University of Texas (Austin) . May 2021 . 1-2, 97-98 . https://web.archive.org/web/20231019113120/https://repositories.lib.utexas.edu/bitstream/handle/2152/87222/BARNETTIII-THESIS-2021.pdf . 19 October 2023.
  7. Web site: Ackerman. Andrew . 17 October 2023 . What We Know About the Gaza Hospital Blast. subscription. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20231018022743/https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/what-we-know-about-the-gaza-hospital-blast-b238a40d . 18 October 2023 . .
  8. Web site: Gostoli . Ylenia . Gaza's only cancer hospital could shut down amid Israel's war and siege . www.aljazeera.com . Al Jazeera English . 26 October 2023 . en . 24 October 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20231024165032/https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2023/10/19/gazas-only-cancer-hospital-could-shut-down-amid-israels-war-and-siege . live .
  9. News: Boorstein. Michelle . Brasch . Ben . Gaza hospital where hundreds were killed is owned by Anglican Communion branch . . October 17, 2023 . October 28, 2023 . October 18, 2023. https://web.archive.org/web/20231018013024/https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/10/17/israel-hamas-gaza-hospital-anglican-church/ . live.
  10. Web site: Embrace the Middle East's Work in Israel/Palestine . 17 October 2023 . Embrace the Middle East.
  11. Web site: Al Ahli Hospital Emergency Appeal . 17 October 2023 . Abmission.
  12. News: 16 October 2023 . Anglican-run al-Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza damaged by Israeli rocket fire as war continues . Anglican Communion News Service . 18 October 2023.
  13. News: Paulsen . David . 16 October 2023 . Anglican hospital among facilities struggling to respond to growing humanitarian crisis in Gaza . 27 October 2023 . Episcopal News Service.
  14. News: Brown . Paul . Cheetham . Joshua . Seddon . Sean . Palumbo . Daniele . 18 October 2023 . What video, pictures and other evidence tell us about Gaza hospital blast . 27 October 2023 . BBC News.
  15. Web site: Gaza hospitals are 'facing catastrophe', says Archbishop of Canterbury . 17 October 2023 . Archbishop of Canterbury.
  16. News: Borger . Julian . 17 October 2023 . Hundreds feared dead after blast at Gaza hospital as Biden set to fly in . . 17 October 2023.
  17. Web site: WHO statement on attack on Al Ahli Arab Hospital and reported large-scale casualties . 27 October 2023 . WHO.
  18. News: . 26 November 2023. Human Rights Watch says rocket misfire likely cause of deadly Gaza hospital blast. Reuters. 27 November 2023.
  19. Gaza: Findings on October 17 al-Ahli Hospital Explosion - Evidence Points to Misfired Rocket but Full Investigation Needed . Human Rights Watch . 26 November 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20231201021546/https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/11/26/gaza-findings-october-17-al-ahli-hospital-explosion . 1 December 2023 . live.
  20. Web site: Davies . Madeline . Archbishop Welby condemns closure of Al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza, after Israeli warning . Church Times . 20 July 2024.