The head of the World Health Organization has said a child died due to "disruption of care" caused by Israeli strikes on a hospital in Gaza.
Two Israeli missiles hit a building inside Al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza City, destroying the emergency and reception department and damaging other structures, medics said.
The pre-dawn strike destroyed the emergency room and other facilities at the hospital, the WHO said, after Israel issued an evacuation warning.
One patient, a girl, died during the evacuation because medical staff were unable to provide urgent care, the WHO said citing the hospital's director.
WHO Director-General Tedros Ghebreyesus said the hospital was forced to move 50 patients to other hospitals while 40 critical patients couldn't be moved.
He added that the hospital is unable to receive new patients pending repairs.
"Hospitals are protected under international humanitarian law. Attacks on health care must stop.
"Once again we repeat: patients, health workers and hospitals must be protected. The aid blockade must be lifted. Ceasefire," Mr Tedros said in a post on X.
The hospital is run by the Diocese of Jerusalem, which condemned the attack in a statement and said it happened on "Palm Sunday, the start of the Holy Week, the most sacred week of the Christian year".
Health officials at the Al-Ahli Arab Baptist Hospital evacuated patients from the building after a phone call from someone who identified himself as Israeli security shortly before the attack.
The Israeli military said in a statement it had taken steps to reduce harm to civilians before it struck the compound, which it claimed was being used by Hamas militants to plan attacks.
Hamas condemned what it described as a "savage crime" committed by Israel "with blatant US cover and complicity", dismissing the claim that the facility was a used militarily.
The hospital - an institution of the Anglican Church and a major medical facility - was knocked out of operation, according Gaza's health ministry.
"Hundreds of patients and injured people had to be evacuated in the middle of the night, and many of them are now out in the streets without medical care, which puts their lives at risk," said the ministry's spokesperson, Khalil Al-Deqran.
The strikes came as Hamas leaders began a fresh round of talks in Cairo, in a bid to salvage a stalled ceasefire agreement with Israel, as Egypt, Qatar, and the United States have stepped up efforts to bridge gaps between the sides.
Images showed significant destruction in and outside the hospital compound's church.
Patients, relatives and medical personnel evacuated the Al-Ahli hospital in haste following the military's warning.
Many found themselves stranded in the surrounding streets.
Naela Imad, 42, had been sheltering at the hospital but had to rush out of the complex.
"Just as we reached the hospital gate, they bombed it. It was a massive explosion," she said.
"Now, me and my children are out on the street. We've been displaced more than 20 times. The hospital was our last refuge."
Qatar, which helped mediate a fragile ceasefire between the warring parties that fell apart last month, also denounced the strike as "a heinous crime".
Taoiseach Micheál Martin said he was appalled by the strike on the hospital in Gaza.
"This is part of a wider and deeply unacceptable development in modern warfare.
"The wanton killing and targeting of civilians has to end," he said.
At least 30 Palestinians killed in separate Israeli strikes
Separate strikes in the enclave killed at least 30 Palestinians, including the head of a police station in Khan Younis, in the southern part of Gaza, according to Hamas and health authorities.
Six brothers were killed when an Israeli strike hit their car in Deir Al-Balah in central Gaza, medics said.
The war in Gaza was triggered by Hamas' 7 October 2023 attack on southern Israel, in which 1,200 people were killed and 251 taken hostage, according to Israeli tallies.
Since then, more than 50,000 Palestinians have been killed in the Israeli offensive, according to local health authorities.
Much of Gaza is in ruins and most of its population has been displaced.
Aid worker missing after deadly attack on colleagues is held by Israel, ICRC says
Meanwhile, a Palestinian Red Crescent staff member who went missing in late March when 15 humanitarian workers were killed by Israeli fire is being detained by Israeli authorities, the rescue service and the Red Cross said.
Hisham Mhana, the spokesperson for the ICRC in Gaza, confirmed that it had received information that the Palestine Red Crescent Society paramedic Assad Al-Nsasrah was being held in an Israeli place of detention.
Mr Mhana said the ICRC has not been granted access to Mr Nsasrah, who until today had been declared missing, and also has not been able to visit any of the Palestinian detainees and prisoners in Israeli jails since 7 October 2023.
In a post on X, the PRCS demanded the immediate release of Mr Nsasrah, who it said was "forcibly abducted" while carrying out humanitarian duties.
🚨Urgent: We have been informed by the International Committee of the Red Cross that PRCS medic Assad Al-Nsasrah is being held by the Israeli occupation authorities. His fate had remained unknown since he was targeted along with other PRCS medics in #Rafah.
— PRCS (@PalestineRCS) April 13, 2025
📢We call on the… pic.twitter.com/l0oOxujS8G
It added that Mr Nsasrah and his colleagues came under heavy gunfire, which led to the killing of eight of them in a "grave violation" of international humanitarian law.
The bodies of 15 emergency and aid workers from the Red Crescent, the Civil Emergency Service and the UN were found buried in a mass grave in southern Gaza in March.
The UN and the Red Crescent accused Israeli forces of killing them after they were dispatched to respond to reports of injuries from Israeli airstrikes.
The Israeli military said that a thorough inquiry into the incident was still under way and that it would provide further details only once the investigation is complete.
It said that a preliminary inquiry indicated that "the troops opened fire due to a perceived threat following a previous encounter in the area, and that six of the individuals killed in the incident were identified as Hamas terrorists".
The Israeli military has provided no evidence of how it determined that the six were Hamas militants, and the Islamist faction has rejected the accusation.
The only known survivor of the incident, PRCS paramedic Munther Abed, said soldiers had opened fire on clearly marked emergency response vehicles.
Additional reporting Press Association
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