Palestinian Church Committee Condemns Israeli Strike on Baptist Hospital as “Heinous Crime and Insult to Christianity”
Occupied Palestine (Quds News Network)- The Higher Presidential Committee for Church Affairs in Palestine strongly condemned Israel’s bombing of the Baptist Hospital in Gaza. The attack came on the eve of Palm Sunday, one of the holiest days in the Christian calendar.
Dr. Ramzi Khoury, head of the committee and a member of the PLO Executive Committee, called the strike a “heinous crime and an insult to Christians and all of humanity.” He said the targeting of the only Christian hospital in Gaza shows Israel’s disregard for religious sanctity and humanitarian principles.
Israeli warplanes bombed the Baptist Hospital, also known as the Arab Ahli Hospital, on Saturday night. The strike hit the emergency unit and pharmacy, killing a 13-year-old boy during a rushed evacuation. The hospital is run by the Anglican Episcopal Church in occupied Jerusalem and serves hundreds of patients daily.
Khoury stressed that this was not an accident but part of a deliberate Israeli policy to destroy Gaza’s essential services. “This is a systematic crime,” he said, adding that Israel has destroyed 34 hospitals since the genocide began in October 2023.
The committee warned that Israel’s campaign includes starvation, water cuts, and medical collapse. It called these actions a violation of international humanitarian law and the Geneva Conventions.
Khoury held the international community and the UN Security Council responsible for failing to stop the attacks. He urged churches and religious institutions worldwide to speak out and take meaningful action to protect what remains of Gaza’s humanitarian infrastructure.
The hospital strike sparked fresh outrage just months after Israel bombed the same facility in October, killing hundreds of civilians sheltering in its courtyard. That massacre remains one of the deadliest assaults on a medical site in modern history.
