Israel has destroyed the Turkish-Palestinian Friendship Hospital in the Gaza Strip, the last remaining cancer treatment facility in the besieged enclave, in what appears to be a controlled demolition. The incident, which occurred on March 21st, represents the latest in a systematic pattern of attacks on Gaza’s medical infrastructure that has left the territory’s healthcare system in ruins.
The latest target
Footage circulating online shows what appears to be a controlled demolition rather than an airstrike on the Turkish-Palestinian Friendship Hospital. The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) confirmed they conducted an operation at the site, claiming Hamas operatives were using the Turkish-Palestinian Friendship Hospital and it had been “turned into terror infrastructure”.
Israeli officials insisted the building “has not been used as an active hospital for over a year”.
The Turkish Foreign Ministry strongly condemned the destruction, describing it as “part of Israel’s policy to render Gaza unlivable and force the Palestinian people into displacement”. United Nations spokesperson Farhan Haq reiterated that “all attacks against medical infrastructure by any of the parties is a violation of international humanitarian law”.
A pattern of hospital attacks
Israel’s destruction of the Turkish-Palestinian Friendship Hospital is not an isolated incident. According to a UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) report, Israel has conducted systematic attacks on medical facilities in Gaza since October 2023.
October 2023: An explosion at Al-Ahli Al-Mamdani Hospital killed hundreds of internally displaced persons. That same month, an Israeli airstrike hit ambulances near Al Shifa Medical Complex, killing 12 people.
November 2023: The siege of Al Shifa Medical Complex led to 25 Palestinian deaths and forced evacuations of 5,000 people. A strike on the Indonesian Hospital killed nine individuals.
December 2023: Al Awda Hospital and Kamal Adwan Hospital were besieged, with medical staff killed and thousands evacuated.
January-March 2024: Operations around Khan Younis targeted Al Aqsa Martyrs Hospital and Al Amal Hospital. A second raid on Al Shifa Medical Complex left it in ruins, with mass graves containing more than 80 corpses discovered afterwards.
Gaza’s healthcare system collapses
By June 2024, 22 of Gaza’s 38 hospitals had been rendered non-functional. Over 500 medical professionals had been killed, including doctors who died in Israeli custody. The healthcare collapse has led to an 80% reduction in hospital beds across the territory.
As of January 2025, Dr Rik Peeperkorn, the World Health Organization (WHO) representative for the West Bank and Gaza, reported that only 16 of the region’s 36 hospitals remained partially operational, with a collective capacity of merely 1,800 beds—wholly insufficient for the overwhelming medical needs.
“The health sector is being systematically dismantled,” Dr Peeperkorn noted in a UN Security Council meeting, citing critical shortages of medical supplies, equipment and personnel. He claimed in January 2025 that more than 25% of the 105,000 injured civilians faced life-changing injuries, with over 12,000 people on waiting lists for urgent treatment abroad.
Legal and humanitarian violations
Before Israel destroyed Gaza’s Turkish-Palestinian Friendship Hospital on March 21st, New York-based Human Rights Watch documented numerous violations of international humanitarian law by Israeli forces operating in Gaza’s hospitals:
Indiscriminate attacks: Use of explosive weapons in densely populated areas.
Siege tactics: Blocking medical supplies, food and water to hospitals.
Forced displacement: Evacuations under unsafe conditions from multiple hospitals.
Witnesses from Al Shifa, Kamal Adwan and Nasser hospitals told Human Rights Watch that Israeli forces denied electricity, water, food and medicines to patients; shot civilians; mistreated health workers; and deliberately destroyed medical facilities and equipment.
“Israeli forces repeatedly demonstrated deadly cruelty against Palestinian patients in hospitals that they seized,” said Bill Van Esveld, associate children’s rights director at Human Rights Watch. “The Israeli military’s denial of water and electricity left sick and wounded people to die,” Mr Esveld added.
Healthcare workers targeted
For medical professionals in Gaza, “wearing scrubs and white coats is like wearing a target on their backs,” according to Dr Tanya Haj-Hassan from Medical Aid for Palestinians. More than 1,000 healthcare workers have been killed since October 2023.
The WHO has verified 654 attacks on healthcare facilities in Gaza since October 2023, resulting in 886 fatalities and 1,349 injuries. Each attack leaves behind not just damaged buildings but also countless lives disrupted and denied access to essential care.
The human cost
Israel’s destruction of the Turkish-Palestinian Friendship Hospital—the last cancer treatment centre in Gaza—raises urgent questions about the fate of thousands of cancer patients now left without access to specialised care. The WHO reports that 10,000 cancer patients remain untreated across Gaza, while 1,100 kidney patients lack dialysis. Disease has spread rapidly in the absence of adequate healthcare, with over 711,000 respiratory infections and 381,000 diarrhoea cases reported by April 2024.
Israel destroys Turkish-Palestinian Friendship Hospital: What is next?
As Israel destroys the Turkish-Palestinian Friendship Hospital and other medical facilities across Gaza, the humanitarian crisis deepens by the day. Dr Peeperkorn has warned that at the current rate, “it would take five to 10 years to evacuate all these critically ill patients” who need urgent treatment abroad.
What becomes of the thousands of cancer patients who relied on the Turkish-Palestinian Friendship Hospital? What happens to the wounded who continue to arrive daily with nowhere to go? Who will care for the children suffering from malnutrition, dehydration and preventable diseases?
The systematic dismantling of Gaza’s healthcare system raises profound questions about accountability under international law. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, stated: “The protection of hospitals during warfare is paramount and must be respected by all sides, at all times.”
For the 2.3 million Palestinians in Gaza, Israel’s destruction of hospitals like the Turkish-Palestinian Friendship Hospital doesn’t just represent the loss of buildings—it also represents the loss of their fundamental right to health, dignity, and ultimately, to life itself.
Tanmoy Ibrahim is a journalist who writes extensively on geopolitics and political economy. During his two-decade-long career, he has written extensively on the economic aspects behind the rise of the ultra-right forces and communalism in India. A life-long student of the dynamic praxis of geopolitics, he emphasises the need for a multipolar world with multilateral ties for a peaceful future for all.
