The Ministry of Health in Gaza has called Israel’s destruction of the vacant Turkish-Palestinian Friendship Hospital, the enclave’s only specialised cancer treatment centre, a “heinous crime.”
Footage posted online showed the Israeli military carrying out a demolition of the hospital on Friday. Israel later confirmed it destroyed the cancer hospital claiming it was used by Hamas – without providing any evidence.
Turkiye’s Foreign Ministry has condemned the destruction of the hospital: “The deliberate targeting of a hospital providing healthcare services to civilians in Gaza is part of Israel’s policy to render Gaza unliveable and force the Palestinian people into displacement.”
The hospital and medical school was built and equipped by the Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TIKA), a government agency similar to USAID. Construction on the hospital began in 2011 and was completed in 2017, at a cost of $70m.
The hospital was considered the largest medical facility in Gaza, with total interior space of 33,400 square metres (359,514 square feet ). It was the only hospital in Gaza accredited to treat cancer patients and had the capacity to treat 30,000 people a year.
The third floor of the hospital was hit by an Israeli air strike on October 30, 2023, Al Jazeera reported. Fuel shortages forced the hospital to shut down on November 1, 2023, with the UN warning the lives of 70 patients were at risk. It later emerged four patients died due to lack of medical care.
Satellite imagery in May 2024 appeared to show the Israeli military using the hospital as a military base.
