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.
The World Health Organization (WHO) said on December 21 that no hospitals were functioning in northern Gaza and injured patients who were unable to be moved were “waiting to die.” According to the WHO, as of January 10, six hospitals in the north were partially functioning.
To provide a window into how Gaza’s hospitals became battlegrounds, CNN took an in-depth look at the deterioration of the strip’s biggest and second biggest medical facilities, Al-Shifa and Al-Quds, up until they ceased operations in November. Al-Shifa has since resumed some services.
Israeli authorities say both hospitals have been used by Hamas for military purposes. The IDF published images of a tunnel shaft and military equipment it said its forces found inside the Al-Shifa complex and video of what appeared to be an armed man outside Al-Quds Hospital. Hamas and hospital officials have denied that the militant group has operated from inside the facilities.
Taken together, the two hospitals reflect the similarities CNN observed in reviewing evidence from the first two months of the war: that what should be protected facilities are being bombed, encircled and shot at by tanks, and that surrounding infrastructure, ambulances and roads are being hit, affecting efforts to treat patients, evacuate facilities and deliver aid.
Several of the hospitals assessed as part of this analysis, including Al-Shifa and Al-Quds, appeared to have been attacked by Israel, according to imagery of munitions fragments, large impact craters, tanks, tank shell holes and tracks from heavily armored vehicles. Experts who reviewed the imagery for CNN said that the aftermath was consistent with damage from high-grade military weaponry used by the IDF.