Israeli occupation forces first targeted the hospital on November 6, 2023, a month after the beginning of the genocide in the Gaza Strip. 

Qatari donors have rebuilt the Gaza Strip’s Al-Rantisi Hospital for Children a year after it was destroyed by Israeli occupation forces, who intentionally targeted medical institutions and the healthcare sector in the besieged enclave.

Palestinian health authorities announced on Sunday the opening of the hospital, the only specialised facility for children in Gaza City.

During the hospital’s opening ceremony, Dr. Maher Shamiyeh, Assistant Undersecretary for Gaza’s Health Ministry, said the facility was rebuilt through generations Qatari donations made towards the UK-based charity, Al Khair Foundation.

The donations helped restore parts of the hospital, including the intensive care unit, radiology department, the central laboratory, physical therapy unit, and the overnight stay department.

“This is considered the first phase in which the benevolent people of Qatar have contributed to. We have successfully accomplished the first phase of the reconstruction, which will be followed by others to reactivate this important health facility,” Shamiyeh told the press in Gaza.

Israeli occupation forces first targeted the hospital on November 6, 2023, a month after it began its genocide of the Gaza Strip. 

The hospital went out of service within three days after the attack due to Israel’s relentless bombardment, which ignited fires on its lower level.

Israeli forces then raided and occupied the hospital on November 19, after targeting and besieging the hospital.

The Director General of Gaza’s health ministry, Munir Al-Bursh, told Anadolu Agency that Al-Rantisi was “the first hospital to be demolished by the occupation a year ago”.

Other departments of the hospital that are currently non-operational include the dialysis, oncology, and cardiology wards.

“The restoration of the remaining departments is required in the next stage so that the hospital comes back to life,” Shamiyeh explained.

Hospitals have been among Israel’s primary targets over the course of its brutal war on the Gaza Strip, which put 24 hospitals out of an initial 36 out of service, according to the United Nations.

The latest such targeting was seen last month when Israeli forces raided the Kamal Adwan Hospital, where it arrested medical staff, patients and displaced Palestinians. 

Qatar had condemned the storming of the hospital, slamming it as “a flagrant violation of international humanitarian law”.

Meanwhile, a report released by the UN last month found that Israel’s attacks on health facilities “were widespread and systematic”.

Since the beginning of the war on October 7, 2023, Israel has killed more than 43,000 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. The figure is an undercount as thousands remain missing or buried under the rubble.

The figure reported by the local health authorities included at least 1,047 medical personnel, in addition to 520 Palestinians uncovered from seven mass graves discovered inside hospitals.

The complete Israeli siege on the Gaza Strip has also caused a humanitarian catastrophe, denying the two million population of basic resources to survive, resulting in an alarming rate of starvation.

Doctors on the ground are struggling with providing medical care for the wounded and those with different health conditions, including kidney and cancer patients. Medical evacuations were halted by Israel after it raided and destroyed the Egypt-Gaza Rafah Crossing on May 6.