The Catholic Near East Welfare Association (CNEWA) reported emergency response crews were not able to immediately reach the struck building because responders feared a second strike.
EWTN News - Israeli airstrikes on an apartment building adjacent to the Al-Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza City damaged the hospital on the evening of July 29, blowing out windows and doors, and frightening patients and medical staff, according to a report by the Catholic Near East Welfare Association (CNEWA).
“The repeated explosions create confusion among medical staff and place additional psychological pressure on patients,” Mousa Ayad, manager at Al-Ahli Arab Hospital, told CNEWA’s Diaa Ostaz.
Ayad told CNEWA he could not rule out another airstrike: “This is war, and no one knows where the next danger will be. But given the hospital’s humanitarian and medical role, we do not believe that the hospital is the intended target.”
According to CNEWA, Mahmoud Basal, spokesman for Gaza’s Civil Defense, said emergency response crews were not able to immediately reach the struck building, which is beside the hospital and a shelter for displaced people, because responders feared a second strike.
“The fire burned for more than 15 minutes before our crews could move in,” he said, according to CNEWA. “We continue to work with severe shortages of firefighting vehicles, water tankers and fuel, making every emergency response more difficult.”
CNEWA reported that, according to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, nearly 1,200 Palestinians have been killed and another 3,900 injured since the ceasefire took effect in October 2025.
Ayad told CNEWA that despite the ceasefire, Gaza’s health sector is still in dire circumstances.
“The situation has not improved significantly. Hospitals continue to face shortages of medical supplies, equipment and essential consumables,” he said. “Thousands of patients remain on waiting lists for surgery, while many others still need to travel outside Gaza for specialized treatment.”
Last year, he told CNEWA that the hospital was operating at 350% capacity and a total evacuation would be “a major humanitarian challenge.”
This is not the first time the hospital has been struck.
On Oct. 17, 2023, an airstrike on the hospital killed 500 people and injured many others. More than 5,000 people were sheltering at the hospital at the time, reported Joseph Hazboun, regional director for CNEWA’s Jerusalem office.
Then, in June 2025 airstrikes, six people, including four journalists, were killed and 30 others were injured.
Three months later, Israel Defense Forces killed one person and injured several others after it launched a missile that landed in the hospital’s courtyard, according to CNEWA.
The Catholic aid group has long supported Al-Ahli Arab Hospital, and since January 2025, it has partnered with the hospital to provide urgent medical services.
Pope Pius XI founded CNEWA in 1926 as “an instrument of love and a sign of hope for those in need scattered throughout the historic but unstable lands of the ancient Eastern churches — the Middle East, Northeast Africa, India and Eastern Europe,” according to the group’s website.