Updated: 10am (AEDT)
The Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby has described as “devastating” reports of hundreds of deaths after a blast at the al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza.
The blast at the hospital, run by the Anglican Diocese of Jerusalem, has reportedly left as many as 500 people dead and others injured.
An injured person is assisted at Shifa Hospital after a blast at the nearby Al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza City, Gaza Strip, on 17th October, 2023. PICTURE: Reuters/Mohammed Al-Masri
“This is an appalling and devastating loss of innocent lives,” Welby, the spiritual leader of the Anglican Communion and Primate of the Church of England, said in a statement posted on X, formerly known as Twitter.
“The Ahli hospital is run by the Anglican church. I mourn with our brothers and sisters – please pray for them. I renew my appeal for civilians to be protected in this devastating war. May the Lord God have mercy.”
The hospital building was not only being used by medics and patients but was packed with Palestinians seeking shelter after evacuation orders from Israel. The incident follows 10 days of conflict between Israel and Hamas after the 7th October assault by Hamas militants on Jewish settlements, in which 1,400 Israelis died and 200 people were taken hostage. Palestinian officials reported on Tuesday that at least 2,800 Palestinians have been killed and 10,000 others have been wounded in the days since.
Palestinian officials have said the blast was the result of an Israeli airstrike. The Israeli military has denied this and accused a Palestinian militant group of launching a rocket that malfunctioned and hit the hospital. Neither report has been verified.
Canon Richard Sewell, dean of the Anglican St George’s College in Jerusalem, told the BBC the destruction was an “absolute horror show which is unfolding”.
“I have no way of proving who did it, that will transpire in time,” he was quoted as saying. “But we deal with the tragedy, we deal with the disaster and the recriminations will have to run their course.”
He said the international community “needs to learn the lessons and to see exactly the nature of the disaster that is unfolding”.
“There is also no justification for this type of attack, accidental or deliberate.”
On Sunday, Welby had urged Israel to reverse its demand for hospitals in Gaza to be evacuated.
“The seriously ill and injured patients at the Anglican-run Ahli Hospital – and other healthcare facilities in northern Gaza – cannot be safely evacuated,” he warned in a statement on Sunday. “They are running low on medical supplies. They are facing catastrophe.
“I appeal for the evacuation order on hospitals in northern Gaza to be reversed – and for health facilities, health workers, patients and civilians to be protected,” he said.
In the days since the conflict began, American Episcopal leaders have been encouraging people to donate to the work of al-Alhi Hospital through the American Friends of the Diocese of Jerusalem. In a 15th October statement, bishops of the Diocese of New York praised the work of the hospital and of the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem, as without “a political agenda” and in service to “Christian, Jew and Muslim alike through hospitals and schools and shelters, and at no cost.”
This is the second time in four days the hospital has been hit. On Saturday, the Diagnostic Cancer Treatment Center of the hospital was hit by an Israeli rocket. Two upper floors of the centre, which houses the ultrasound and mammography wards, were severely damaged. Four hospital staff members were injured in that blast and are receiving treatment for their wounds.
“The Diagnostic Centre is the Crown Jewel of Ahli Hospital, providing cancer diagnosis as a prelude to various treatment options both at Ahli and in other facilities,” the Anglican Archbishop of Jerusalem, Archbishop Hosam Naoum, told the Anglican Communion News Service at the time. “Next month, we were due to open a new chemotherapy centre there in partnership with Augusta Victoria Hospital on the Mount of Olives – a principal reason for our visit to the hospital last week.”
– With CATHERINE PEPINSTER, London, UK/RNS
