18th October 2023

Amos Trust is horrified by the appalling attack yesterday evening on our partner, Al Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza City, that has left hundreds of people dead.

Yesterday morning, hours before the attack, Mohammad Ali Hassan, Head of Social Work at Al Ahli, messaged us: “We are dying every moment. No food, no water and no electricity. Hundreds of people have escaped to the hospital for shelter.”

It was estimated that 5,000 people were sheltering in the hospital grounds when the airstrike occurred. They were there because international humanitarian law makes it clear that hospitals must not be attacked during times of war.

The hospital was seen as one of the few safe spaces in Gaza City, even though two days earlier, its diagnostic unit had been hit by two bombs. Any attack on a hospital is a clear breach of international law.

Rev. Chris Rose, Director at Amos Trust, said,
“It is imperative that as we mourn so many deaths, the international community does all it can to achieve a cessation of violence, the opening of humanitarian routes to allow food, water, medicines and fuel into Gaza and to ensure that international law is upheld and those who breach it are held to account.

“Al Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza has been a partner organisation for human rights organisation Amos Trust for the last 25 years. The hospital has long been seen as a beacon of hope and is a place of peace in the heart of Gaza City.

“At the time of the attack, the hospital team had been (before the outbreak of violence) due to join our supporters for a webinar about Al Ahli’s breast cancer screening work with Dr Philippa Whitford MP, which we have supported for the last 10 years. Instead, we heard the news of this horrific attack.”