Israel intensifies strikes across Gaza on Palm Sunday and hits a hospital in the north

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — A wave of Israeli strikes across Gaza on Sunday hit a hospital and other sites, killing at least 21 people, including children, as Israel vowed to expand its security presence in the small coastal strip.

The predawn strike on Al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza City was the latest of several attacks on northern Gaza's last major hospital providing critical health care.

Hospital director Dr. Fadel Naim said the emergency room, pharmacy and surrounding buildings were severely damaged, affecting over 100 patients and dozens of staff.

One patient, a girl, died during the evacuation following an Israeli warning because staff were unable to provide urgent care, Gaza's Health Ministry said. Israel said it struck a Hamas command and control center at the hospital, without providing evidence. Hamas denied the allegations.

Al-Ahli Hospital is run by the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem, which condemned the attack, saying in a statement it happened on “Palm Sunday, the start of the Holy Week, the most sacred week of the Christian year.”

Palm Sunday commemorates Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem, and worshipers in Gaza City marked it in a church whose gilded trim and intact walls were a contrast to the widespread debris elsewhere.

Associated Press video showed the hospital’s caved-in roof surrounded by rubble. The health ministry’s director general, Dr. Munir al-Boursh, said patients had been carried outside in beds and slept in the streets.

“Nothing was left safe inside the hospital, or all over Gaza,” said Mohammad Abu Nasser, an injured man who sat on his bed outdoors and looked at the destruction.

The health ministry said the hospital was temporarily out of service and patients were transferred to other hospitals in Gaza City. The aid group Medical Aid for Palestinians called it the fifth attack on Al-Ahli since the war began.

Hospitals have special protection under international law. Israel has besieged and raided them, some several times, and struck multiple ones while accusing Hamas of using them as cover for its fighters.

Last month Israel struck Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, the largest in southern Gaza, killing two people and causing a large fire, the health ministry said. The facility had been overwhelmed when Israel ended a two-month ceasefire last month with a surprise wave of airstrikes.

Hours later Sunday, a strike on a car in Deir al-Balah in central Gaza killed at least seven people including six brothers, according to staff at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, which received the bodies. The youngest brother was 10.

Their father, Ibrahim Abu Mahadi, said his sons worked for a charity that distributes food to Palestinians. "For what sin were they killed?” he said.

AP reporters saw the mangled, bloodied car as relatives wept over the bodies. Israel's military asserted that it killed the deputy head of a Hamas sniper cell.

An airstrike Sunday afternoon hit a house in the urban Jabaliya refugee camp in northern Gaza, killing at least seven people including two women, according to the Indonesian hospital.

A pregnant woman was rescued from the rubble. Alaa Manoun later wept after learning her youngest daughter had died, along with her husband and her mother. Two other daughters, ages 4 and 7, were injured.

Manoun had a broken ankle but otherwise seemed OK, according to a doctor. No scan was available, since the only machine in northern Gaza was at Al-Ahli Hospital, now damaged.

“We don’t know whose body is this and whose body is that,” said a neighbor, Abdallah Dardouna. “There is no resistance, there is no Qassam, no Hamas, there is no one here. It’s only civilians here.”

Another strike in Deir al-Balah hit a municipal building and killed at least three people, according to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital. In Khan Younis, a strike killed at least three people, according to staff at Nasser Hospital.

Israel's military said in a statement it had struck over 90 militant targets over the past 48 hours including command and control centers, tunnels and weapons. The military also said it had intercepted a projectile fired from Gaza.

The war started when Hamas-led militants killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians, during an Oct. 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel and took 250 people captive. Many were eventually freed in ceasefire deals.

Israeli authorities have vowed to pressure Hamas to release the remaining 59 hostages, 24 believed to be alive, and accept new ceasefire terms. It cut off all supplies to Gaza over a month ago.

More than 50,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s retaliatory offensive, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, which does not differentiate between combatants and civilians in its count but says more than half of the dead have been women and children.

Israel's military said a missile was launched from Yemen on Sunday afternoon and the details were under review. Sirens sounded in several parts of Israel and the occupied West Bank. There were no reports of casualties or damage.

The Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen continue to target Israel in what they have called solidarity with the Palestinians in Gaza.

Magdy reported from Cairo.

Follow AP’s war coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war

Alaa Manoun, who is seven months pregnant, is rescued from her family’s home after it was struck by an Israeli army attack that killed at least seven people, including her mother, daughter, and husband, in Jabalia al-Balad, Gaza City, Sunday, April 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

Palestinian Christians attend a Palm Sunday mass at the Greek Orthodox Church of Saint Porphyrius in Gaza City, Sunday, April 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

Altar boys walk down the aisle as Palestinian Christians attend a Palm Sunday mass at the Greek Orthodox Church of Saint Porphyrius in Gaza City, Sunday, April 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

Palestinian Christians attend a Palm Sunday mass at the Greek Orthodox Church of Saint Porphyrius in Gaza City, Sunday, April 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

Volunteers and emergency workers search for bodies and survivors from the rubble of the Manoun family's house after it was targeted by an Israeli army strike in Jabalia al-Balad, Gaza City, Sunday, April 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

Volunteers and emergency workers remove a body from the rubble of the Manoun family's house after it was targeted by an Israeli army strike in Jabalia al-Balad, Gaza City, Sunday, April 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

Volunteers and emergency workers try to move a concrete pillar as they search for bodies and survivors from the rubble of the Manoun family's house after it was targeted by an Israeli army strike in Jabalia al-Balad, Gaza City, Sunday, April 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

Volunteers and emergency workers search for bodies or survivors from the rubble of the Manoun family's house after it was targeted by an Israeli army strike in Jabalia al-Balad, Gaza City, Sunday, April 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

Mariam Manoun, who is pregnant, id rescued for her family's house after it was targeted by an Israeli army strike in Jabalia al-Balad, Gaza City, Sunday, April 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

A dead man is removed from the rubble of the Manoun family's house after it was targeted by an Israeli army strike in Jabalia al-Balad, Gaza City, Sunday, April 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

A relative mourn over the body of Abdullah Habbash before his funeral, along with six brothers from the Abu Mahadi family, all members of a Palestinian charity organization linked to Hamas, who were killed earlier in an Israeli army strike on the car they were traveling in, in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, Sunday, April 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)"

Relatives mourn over the body of Abdullah Habbash before his funeral, along with the bodies of six brothers from the Abu Mahadi family, all members of a Palestinian charity organization linked to Hamas, who were killed earlier in an Israeli army strike on the car they were traveling in, in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, Sunday, April 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)"

Relatives mourn over the body of Abdullah Habbash before his funeral, along with the bodies of six brothers from the Abu Mahadi family, all members of a Palestinian charity organization linked to Hamas, who were killed earlier in an Israeli army strike on the car they were traveling in, in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, Sunday, April 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)"

Palestinians look at the wreckage of a car struck earlier by an Israeli army attack that killed at least seven people, six of them the Abu Mahadi brothers, in the outskirts of Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, Sunday, April 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Palestinians look at the wreckage of a car struck earlier by an Israeli army attack that killed at least seven people, six of them the Abu Mahadi brothers, in the outskirts of Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, Sunday, April 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

The wreckage of a car struck earlier by an Israeli army attack that killed at least seven people, six of them the Abu Mahadi brothers, sits on the outskirts of Deir al-Balah, in the central Gaza Strip, Sunday, April 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Relatives mourn over the bodies of Abdullah Habbash, along with the bodies of six brothers from the Abu Mahadi family, all members of a Palestinian charity organization linked to Hamas, who were killed earlier in an Israeli army strike on the car they were traveling in, in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, Sunday, April 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)"

Palestinians pray over the bodie of Abdullah Habbash, along with the bodies of six brothers from the Abu Mahadi family, all members of a Palestinian charity organization linked to Hamas, who were killed earlier in an Israeli army strike on the car they were traveling in, during their funeral in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, Sunday, April 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)"

Staff inspects a building of the Al-Ahli Arab Baptist hospital after it was targeted by an Israeli army strike late Saturday following a warning issued by the army to evacuate patients, in Gaza City, Sunday, April 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

The outpatient and laboratory wards of the Al-Ahli Arab Baptist hospital are seen after being hit by an Israeli army strike late Saturday, following a warning issued by the army to evacuate patients, in Gaza City, Sunday, April 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

The outpatient and laboratory wards of the Al-Ahli Arab Baptist hospital are seen after being hit by an Israeli army strike late Saturday, following a warning issued by the army to evacuate patients, in Gaza City, Sunday, April 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

Palestinians carry for burial the bodies of Abdullah Habbash and six brothers from the Abu Mahadi family, members of a Palestinian charity organization linked to Hamas, who were killed earlier in an Israeli army strike on the car they were traveling in, in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, Sunday, April 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

The outpatient and laboratory wards of the Al-Ahli Arab Baptist hospital are seen after being hit by an Israeli army strike late Saturday, following a warning issued by the army to evacuate patients, in Gaza City, Sunday, April 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

The outpatient and laboratory wards of the Al-Ahli Arab Baptist hospital are seen after being hit by an Israeli army strike late Saturday, following a warning issued by the army to evacuate patients, in Gaza City, Sunday, April 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

A relative mourn over the body of Abdullah Habbash before his funeral, along with six brothers from the Abu Mahadi family, all members of a Palestinian charity organization linked to Hamas, who were killed earlier in an Israeli army strike on the car they were traveling in, in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, Sunday, April 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)"

The outpatient and laboratory wards of the Al-Ahli Arab Baptist hospital are seen after being hit by an Israeli army strike late Saturday, following a warning issued by the army to evacuate patients, in Gaza City, Sunday, April 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

Khalid Ahmad holds a poster of his 17-year-old son, Waleed, who died in an Israeli prison, that reads in Arabic, "The hero prisoner Martyr, mercy and eternity for our righteous Martyrs," in the West Bank town of Silwad, northeast of Ramallah Wednesday, March 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Nasser Nasser)

A woman holds a sign as people take part in a protest demanding the immediate release of hostages held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip, in Tel Aviv, Israel, Saturday, April 5,2025. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

Palestinians wait for donated food at a distribution center in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip, Friday, April 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Palestinian children receive donated food at a distribution center in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip, Friday, April 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Displaced Palestinians flee from east to west of Gaza City after the Israeli military issued evacuation orders in the area, Friday April 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

Displaced Palestinians flee from east to west of Gaza City after the Israeli military issued evacuation orders in the area, Friday April 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

Two boys sit on a mattress as they ride on their family car while s fleeing from east to west of Gaza City after the Israeli military issued evacuation orders in the area, Friday April 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration said Wednesday it is suing Maine’s education department for not complying with the government's push to ban transgender athletes in girls and women's sports, escalating a dispute over whether the state is abiding by a federal law that bars discrimination in education based on sex.

The lawsuit follows weeks of feuding between the Republican administration and Democratic Gov. Janet Mills that has led to threats to cut off crucial federal funding and a clash at the White House when she told President Donald Trump: “We’ll see you in court.”

The political overtones of the moment were clear, with Attorney General Pam Bondi — and several athletes who joined her on stage at the Justice Department — citing the matter as a priority for Trump. Bondi said other states, including Minnesota and California, could be sued as well.

"This has been a huge issue for him,” Bondi said of the president. “Pretty simple, girls play in girls sports, boys play in boys sports. Women play in women’s sports, men play in men’s sports.”

Trump campaigned against the participation of transgender athletes in sports in his 2024 race. As president, he has signed executive orders to do that and to use a rigid definition of the sexes, rather than gender, for federal government purposes. The orders are being challenged in court.

Trump’s departments of Education and Health and Human Services have said the Maine agency is violating the federal Title IX antidiscrimination law by allowing transgender girls to participate on girls teams. The Justice Department is asking the court to order the state to direct all schools to prohibit the participation of males in athletic competition designated for females.

Maine officials have refused to agree with a settlement that would have banned transgender students from sports, arguing that the law does not prevent schools from letting transgender athletes participate. Representatives for Mills and Maine Attorney General Aaron Frey did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The complaint cites as examples the case of a biological boy who in February won first place in pole vault at Maine’s indoor track and field meet and a biological male who last year began competing in female cross country races in the state and placed first in the women’s 5K.

The lawsuit reflects a stark philosophical turnabout from the position on gender identity issues taken during Democratic administrations.

Under President Joe Biden, the government tried to extend civil rights policies to protect transgender people. In 2016, the Justice Department, then led by Attorney General Loretta Lynch, sued North Carolina over a law that required transgender people to use public restrooms and showers that corresponded the gender on their birth certificate.

Trump signed an executive order in February, “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports,” that gave federal agencies wide latitude to ensure entities that receive federal funding abide by Title IX in alignment with his administration’s interpretation of “sex” as the gender someone was assigned at birth.

Bondi was joined at the news conference by former University of Kentucky swimmer Riley Gaines, who has emerged as a public face of the opposition to transgender athletes. Gaines tied with a transgender athlete for fifth place in a 2022 NCAA championship and has testified before lawmakers across the country on the issue. She and others frame the issue as women’s rights.

During a February meeting with governors, Trump threatened to pull federal funding from Maine if the state did not comply with his executive order. Mills responded: “We’ll see you in court.”

Maine sued the administration this month after the Department of Agriculture said it was pausing some money for the state’s educational programs because of what the administration contended was Maine’s failure to comply with the Title IX law. A federal judge on Friday ordered the administration to unfreeze funds intended for a Maine child nutrition program.

Questions over the rights of transgender people have become a major political issue in the past five years.

Twenty-six states have laws or policies barring transgender girls from girls school sports. GOP-controlled states have also been banning gender-affirming health care for transgender minors and restricting bathroom use in schools and sometimes other public buildings.

Whittle reported from Portland, Maine. Associated Press writer Geoff Mulvihill in Philadelphia contributed to this report.

Attorney General Pam Bondi speaks with reporters at the White House, Tuesday, April 8, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Education Secretary Linda McMahon accompanied by Attorney General Pam Bondi, right, speaks during a news conference at the Department of Justice headquarters in Washington, Wednesday, April 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

Attorney General Pam Bondi speaks during a news conference at the Department of Justice headquarters in Washington, Wednesday, April 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

FILE - Democratic Gov. Janet Mills delivers her State of the State address, Jan. 30, 2024, at the State House in Augusta, Maine. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty, File)

Attorney General Pam Bondi speaks during a news conference at the Department of Justice headquarters in Washington, Wednesday, April 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

Attorney General Pam Bondi speaks during a news conference at the Department of Justice headquarters in Washington, Wednesday, April 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)