An Israeli army raid focusing on Hamas militants has pressured a significant hospital in northern Gaza out of service and led to the detention of its director, the WHO and well being officers mentioned Saturday.
The assault on Kamal Adwan Hospital has rendered the ability “ineffective”, additional worsening Gaza’s extreme well being disaster, the Palestinian territory’s well being officers mentioned.
“This morning’s raid on Kamal Adwan Hospital has put this final main well being facility in north Gaza out of service. Preliminary stories point out that some key departments had been severely burnt and destroyed in the course of the raid,” the World Well being Group mentioned in a single day on X, referring to the Israeli operation that started within the early hours of Friday.
The WHO mentioned 60 well being staff and 25 sufferers in vital situation, together with some on ventilators, reportedly stay within the hospital.
Sufferers in average to extreme situation had been pressured to evacuate to the destroyed, non-functioning Indonesian Hospital, the UN well being company mentioned, including it was “deeply involved for his or her security”.
Hamas-run Gaza’s well being ministry reported that Israeli forces detained Kamal Adwan Hospital’s director, Hossam Abu Safiyeh, together with a number of medical employees members.
Gaza’s civil defence company mentioned Abu Safiyeh was held alongside its north Gaza chief, Ahmed Hassan al-Kahlout.
The Israeli army didn’t touch upon the detentions.
Ammar al-Barsh, a resident of Jabalia the place the army has centered its assault in latest weeks, mentioned the raid on Kamal Adwan and its environs had left dozens of houses within the space in ruins.
“The scenario is catastrophic, there is no such thing as a medical service, no ambulances and no civil defence within the north,” Barsh, 50, instructed AFP.
The military “continues to raid the Kamal Adwan Hospital and the encircling homes, and we hear gunfire from Israeli drones and artillery shelling”, he added.
– ‘Heinous crime’ –
Within the days main as much as the raid, Abu Safiyeh had repeatedly warned in regards to the hospital’s precarious scenario, accusing Israeli forces of focusing on the ability.
On Monday, he issued a press release accusing Israel of focusing on the hospital “with the intent to kill and forcibly displace the folks inside”.
On Thursday, Abu Safiyeh mentioned 5 employees members of the hospital had been killed in an Israeli strike close to the ability.
Since October 6, Israel has intensified its land and air offensive in northern Gaza, saying its purpose is to stop Hamas militants from regrouping.
The army mentioned Friday that it was appearing on intelligence concerning “terrorist infrastructure and operatives” within the hospital’s neighborhood.
Earlier than initiating the most recent operation close to the hospital, the army mentioned its troops had “facilitated the safe evacuation of civilians, sufferers, and medical personnel”.
Hamas has denied claims its operatives had been current on the hospital, accusing Israeli forces of storming it on Friday.
“The enemy’s lies in regards to the hospital purpose to justify the heinous crime dedicated by the occupation military at present, involving the evacuation and burning of all hospital departments as a part of a plan for extermination and compelled displacement,” Hamas mentioned in a press release.
Gaza’s well being ministry had earlier quoted Abu Safiyeh reporting that the army had “set on fireplace all surgical procedure departments of the hospital”.
Abu Safiyeh mentioned the army had additionally “evacuated your entire medical employees and displaced folks”.
“There are a lot of accidents among the many medical group.”
– ‘Loss of life sentence’ –
Iran, which backs Hamas, “strongly condemned the brutal assault”, with a overseas ministry assertion calling it “the most recent instance of warfare crimes, crimes towards humanity, (and) gross violations of worldwide legislation and norms”.
The Israeli army has often accused Hamas of utilizing hospitals as command and management centres for assaults towards its forces all through the warfare.
Hamas has denied the accusations.
The WHO reiterated its name for a ceasefire.
“This raid on Kamal Adwan Hospital comes after escalating restrictions on entry for WHO and companions, and repeated assaults on or close to the ability since early October,” the WHO mentioned.
“Such hostilities and the raids are undoing all our efforts and help to maintain the ability minimal purposeful. The systematic dismantling of the well being system in Gaza is a loss of life sentence for tens of hundreds of Palestinians in want of well being care.”
In the meantime, Hamas’s media centre reported “huge Israeli air and artillery strikes in Beit Hanoun”, in northern Gaza .
The Israeli army says it has killed tons of of militants for the reason that stepped-up assault in northern Gaza started on October 6, whereas rescuers within the space say hundreds of civilians have died within the sweeping offensive.
Gaza civil defence additionally reported that in a separate Israeli strike in central Gaza at the very least 9 Palestinians had been killed on Saturday.
The Gaza warfare was triggered by the Hamas-led October 7 assault on Israel final 12 months, which resulted in 1,208 deaths, largely civilians, in keeping with an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.
Israel’s retaliatory army marketing campaign has killed at the very least 45,436 folks in Gaza, a majority of them civilians, in keeping with figures from the Hamas-run territory’s well being ministry that the UN considers dependable.
