The Palestinian Return Centre (PRC) condemns in the strongest terms the Israeli military’s latest wave of attacks targeting Al-Ahli Hospital and other healthcare facilities across the Gaza Strip on Sunday, which represent yet another grave violation of international humanitarian law and the sanctity of medical neutrality.

The repeated bombardment of Al-Ahli Hospital — a facility that has long served as a lifeline for thousands of wounded and sick Palestinians — is a deplorable and calculated assault on Gaza’s already decimated healthcare system.

These attacks have rendered access to emergency care nearly impossible, leaving civilians, including women, children, and the elderly, with nowhere safe to turn.

Striking hospitals, ambulances, and medical workers is not only inhumane — it is a war crime under the Geneva Conventions. Such acts cannot be justified under any circumstances and must be met with international outrage, accountability, and urgent action.

Al-Ahli Hospital has been bombed multiple times since the beginning of the conflict, part of a systematic campaign to dismantle what remains of Gaza’s civilian infrastructure.

The deliberate targeting of healthcare facilities is part of Israel’s broader strategy of collective punishment against the Palestinian people, a strategy that violates every standard of morality, legality, and decency. These war crimes are unfolding in full view of the international community, which bears a legal and moral responsibility to intervene.

Deliberate or disproportionate assaults on such facilities not only endanger the lives of civilians and medical staff, but also violate the principles of distinction and proportionality, which are central to the laws governing armed conflict. These principles require all warring parties to distinguish between military targets and civilian infrastructure and to ensure that any military action is not excessive in relation to the anticipated military advantage.

When hospitals and medical centers are targeted or rendered inoperable, the consequences are catastrophic, depriving entire populations of urgent care and exacerbating humanitarian crises.

We call on the United Nations, the International Criminal Court, and governments worldwide — including the United Kingdom — to take immediate steps to hold Israeli officials accountable, ensure the protection of medical facilities and personnel, and pressure Israel to cease its indiscriminate and disproportionate military operations in the Gaza Strip.

Silence and inaction in the face of such brutality is complicity.