Gaza hospital shut after Israeli raid, director held, health officials

The bodies of people killed in an Israeli strike on al-Meghazi refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip, are placed at the Aqsa Martyrs hospital in Deir el-Balah on December 28, 2024. [AFP] An Israeli military raid targeting Hamas militants has forced a major hospital in northern Gaza out of service and led to the detention of its director, the WHO and health officials said Saturday. The assault on Kamal Adwan Hospital has rendered the facility "useless", further worsening Gaza's severe health crisis, the Palestinian territory's health officials said. "This morning's raid on Kamal Adwan Hospital has put this last major health facility in north Gaza out of service. Initial reports indicate that some key departments were severely burnt and destroyed during the raid," the World Health Organization said overnight on X, referring to the Israeli operation that began in the early hours of Friday. The WHO said 60 health workers and 25 patients in critical condition, including some on ventilators, reportedly remain in the hospital. Patients in moderate to severe condition were forced to evacuate to the destroyed, non-functioning Indonesian Hospital, the UN health agency said, adding it was "deeply concerned for their safety". Hamas-run Gaza's health ministry reported that Israeli forces detained Kamal Adwan Hospital's director, Hossam Abu Safiyeh, along with several medical staff members. Gaza's civil defence agency said Abu Safiyeh was held alongside its north Gaza chief, Ahmed Hassan al-Kahlout. The Israeli military did not comment on the detentions. Ammar al-Barsh, a resident of Jabalia where the military has focused its assault in recent weeks, said the raid on Kamal Adwan and its environs had left dozens of homes in the area in ruins. "The situation is catastrophic, there is no medical service, no ambulances and no civil defence in the north," Barsh, 50, told AFP. The army "continues to raid the Kamal Adwan Hospital and the surrounding houses, and we hear gunfire from Israeli drones and artillery shelling", he added. 'Heinous crime' In the days leading up to the raid, Abu Safiyeh had repeatedly warned about the hospital's precarious situation, accusing Israeli forces of targeting the facility. On Monday, he issued a statement accusing Israel of targeting the hospital "with the intent to kill and forcibly displace the people inside". On Thursday, Abu Safiyeh said five staff members of the hospital had been killed in an Israeli strike near the facility. Since October 6, Israel has intensified its land and air offensive in northern Gaza, saying its goal is to prevent Hamas militants from regrouping. The military said Friday that it was acting on intelligence regarding "terrorist infrastructure and operatives" in the hospital's vicinity. Before initiating the latest operation near the hospital, the military said its troops had "facilitated the secure evacuation of civilians, patients, and medical personnel". Hamas has denied claims its operatives were present at the hospital, accusing Israeli forces of storming it on Friday. "The enemy's lies about the hospital aim to justify the heinous crime committed by the occupation army today, involving the evacuation and burning of all hospital departments as part of a plan for extermination and forced displacement," Hamas said in a statement. Gaza's health ministry had earlier quoted Abu Safiyeh reporting that the military had "set on fire all surgery departments of the hospital". Abu Safiyeh said the military had also "evacuated the entire medical staff and displaced people". "There are a large number of injuries among the medical team." 'Death sentence' Iran, which backs Hamas, "strongly condemned the brutal attack", with a foreign ministry statement calling it "the latest example of war crimes, crimes against humanity, (and) gross violations of international law and norms". The Israeli military has regularly accused Hamas of using hospitals as command and control centres for attacks against its forces throughout the war. Hamas has denied the accusations. The WHO reiterated its call for a ceasefire. "This raid on Kamal Adwan Hospital comes after escalating restrictions on access for WHO and partners and repeated attacks on or near the facility since early October," the WHO said. "Such hostilities and the raids are undoing all our efforts and support to keep the facility minimal functional. The systematic dismantling of the health system in Gaza is a death sentence for tens of thousands of Palestinians in need of health care." Meanwhile, Hamas's media centre reported "massive Israeli air and artillery strikes in Beit Hanoun", in northern Gaza. The Israeli military says it has killed hundreds of militants since the stepped-up assault in northern Gaza began on October 6, while rescuers in the area say thousands of civilians have died in the sweeping offensive. Gaza civil defence also reported that in a separate Israeli strike in central Gaza at least nine Palestinians were killed on Saturday. The Gaza war was triggered by the Hamas-led October 7 attack on Israel last year, which resulted in 1,208 deaths, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures. Israel's retaliatory military campaign has killed at least 45,436 people in Gaza, a majority of them civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory's health ministry that the UN considers reliable.

Gaza hospital shut after Israeli raid, director held, health officials

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