Do you remember the Baptist Hospital bombing in Gaza? October 17, 2023. The first hospital bombing of the genocide. I remember it so clearly because at that time I was still too fucking propagandized by all the “Israel has the right to self‑defense,” “Israel is the moral army,” all that Israel bullshit. I actually believed it.
And then that night happened.
Hundreds of families had fled to the courtyard of Al‑Ahli Baptist Hospital — one of the oldest hospitals in Palestine, founded in 1882 — because they thought hospitals were protected. They thought the world still respected the idea of medical neutrality. The place was overflowing with patients, wounded civilians, displaced families sleeping on the ground, kids running around the courtyard because it was the only place left that felt remotely safe.
At exactly 6:59 p.m., the sky lit up.
The explosion tore through the courtyard, the parking lot, the walkways — the very places where people were gathered because they believed hospitals were off‑limits. Gaza’s Ministry of Health reported 471 killed and 342 injured that night. International organizations later confirmed similar numbers: UN OCHA documented 471 martyrs. It was “the most deadly single strike in the early days of the genocide.” Even the Anglican Diocese that manages the hospital reported around 200 killed — and that was just the bodies they could count.
Five hundred martyrs. In one fucking blast.
And I remember one piece of footage that has stayed with me forever. A father holding something up. At first, I swear to God, I genuinely thought he was holding up a chicken. And then I read the description and realized he was holding his headless baby. That was the Baptist Hospital bombing. That was what Israeli demons did.
And the world? The world twisted itself into a pretzel over Israel as usual
Half the world was arguing there’s no way it could have been Israel. The other half was saying Israel absolutely bombed it. There were the people swallowing Israel’s story that Hamas somehow fired on their own hospital — that a “misfired rocket” magically produced a fireball big enough to kill hundreds of people in a courtyard full of families. Israel pushed that narrative within minutes. Western governments parroted it. Western media amplified it…and the fucking world swallowed it up.
Meanwhile, regional outlets — Al Jazeera and AFP photographers on the ground — were documenting the bodies, the burned cars, the crater in the courtyard, the fact that the hospital had already been hit days earlier in a “warning strike.” They documented that Israel had issued evacuation orders to 20 hospitals in northern Gaza, including Al‑Ahli, orders that were impossible to carry out because the patients were too injured to move and there was nowhere safe to take them.
Human Rights Watch later said the evidence made an Israeli airstrike “highly unlikely,” but also said the casualty numbers were consistent with a mass‑casualty blast in a crowded civilian space. Forensic Architecture and Earshot published investigations showing the munition came from the direction of Israel. Al Jazeera’s analysis contradicted Israeli claims. Gaza called it a massacre. The families who lost their children didn’t need a fucking investigation to tell them what happened.
But the world — the same world that loves to lecture Palestinians about “civility” and “restraint” — bent over backwards to protect Israel’s image. Looking back now, it’s so ridiculous. It’s just so fucking ridiculous. Israel is so, so evil. And looking back at how the world was fooled into believing they were the saints… it makes me so angry.
The Baptist Hospital massacre wasn’t just an explosion. It was a moment when the mask was ripped off. When the world showed exactly how far it would go to excuse the killing of Palestinians — even babies, even families seeking refuge in a hospital courtyard.
Here are some of the footages, a reminder of that bombing. Never forget and NEVER FORGIVE.
