CNN SPECIAL REPORT
How Gaza’s hospitals became battlegrounds
Relentless bombardment, power outages and shortages have pushed nearly every hospital in the beleaguered northern Gaza Strip out of service, with evidence of repeated attacks on and in the vicinity of medical facilities despite the presence of doctors, patients and civilians inside, a CNN analysis has found.
At least 20 out of 22 hospitals identified by CNN in northern Gaza were damaged or destroyed in the first two months of Israel's war against Hamas, from October 7 to December 7, according to a review of 45 satellite images and around 400 videos from the ground, as well as interviews with doctors, eyewitnesses and humanitarian organizations. Fourteen were directly hit, based on the evidence collected and verified by CNN and analyzed by experts.
Israel launched its bombardment and ground invasion of the Gaza Strip after Hamas’ October 7 terrorist attack, in which at least 1,200 people were killed and more than 240 others taken hostage. In the first two months of the war, at least 17,100 Palestinians were killed in Israeli attacks on the strip, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry. At the time of publishing, that number was more than 23,400.
Israel says that Hamas operates inside and underneath hospitals, and is using them for military operations, including as command centers, weapons stores and to hide hostages. The Israelis have released footage they say is evidence of those Hamas operations. The videos do not offer definitive proof, and Hamas has denied the claims.
CNN sent a list of the hospitals identified as damaged or destroyed to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). In response, the IDF said it “did not conduct any targeted attacks against hospitals in the Gaza Strip,” adding that “Hamas systematically misuses hospitals and medical facilities.”
Tracking how aerial bombardment has impacted hospitals in northern Gaza gives a sense of the scale and scope of devastation that the war has wrought on the enclave’s health system — and the knock-on impact to civilians who have relied on the facilities for shelter and care, and are more in need of their services now than ever before.
CNN identified 22 hospitals in northern Gaza, studying satellite imagery and footage of each site.
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