Anglican hospital in Gaza resumes treating patients after evacuation order

Al Ahli Arab Hospital, an Anglican-run hospital in Gaza City, reopened last week “despite intense military activity in the area,” the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem said in a statement. On July 7, Israel Defense Forces declared the neighborhood around the hospital a “red zone,” ordering the hospital to close and for all patients and staff to be evacuated.

“Some staff were able to return” on July 11 and had performed eight surgeries that day, the diocese said, though “most patients and others in need of medical attention have not yet been able to make the same hazardous journey.”

The hospital, a core ministry of the Jerusalem-based Anglican province in the Middle East, has struggled alongside other Gazan health care providers to meet the needs of injured Palestinians under the Israeli military’s bombardment of the territory since Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel.