JERUSALEM: Israeli forces advanced deeper into the Gaza Strip on Friday and blew up the only specialized cancer hospital in the war-torn territory, as Israeli leaders vowed to capture more land until Hamas releases its remaining hostages.
The hospital was located in the Netzarim Corridor, a band that splits Gaza in two and was controlled by Israeli troops for most of the 17-month-long war.
Israel moved to retake the corridor this week shortly after breaking the ceasefire with Hamas. The truce had delivered relative calm to Gaza since late January and facilitated the release of more than two dozen hostages.
The Israeli military said it struck the Turkish-Palestinian Friendship Hospital, which was inaccessible to doctors and patients during the war, because Hamas militants were operating in the site. Türkiye, which helped build and fund the hospital, said Israeli troops at one point used it as a base.
Dr. Zaki Al-Zaqzouq, head of the hospital’s oncology department, said a medical team visited the facility during the ceasefire and found that, while it had suffered damage, some facilities remained in good condition.
“I cannot fathom what could be gained from bombing a hospital that served as a lifeline for so many patients,” he said in a statement issued by the aid group Medical Aid for Palestinians.

The Turkish Foreign Ministry condemned the hospital’s destruction and accused Israel of deliberately “rendering Gaza uninhabitable and forcibly displacing the Palestinian people.”
Hospitals can lose their protected status under international law if they are used for military purposes, but any operations against them must be proportional. Human rights groups and UN-backed experts have accused accused Israel of systematically destroying Gaza’s health care system.