Reuters
An injured Palestinian man evacuated from Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza is transferred to Al Ahli Al Arabi Hospital.
The last main functioning hospital in northern Gaza was forcibly evacuated by Israeli forces on Friday after dozens of people were reportedly killed in Israeli attacks targeting the area.
The Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry said on Saturday that medical staff at Kamal Adwan Hospital, including its director, had also been detained.
The hospital’s director, Dr. Hassam Abu Safiyah, said about 50 people were killed in an Israeli airstrike that targeted the area near the hospital on Friday.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) claimed the hospital was a “Hamas terrorist hub” and announced it had completed a targeted operation.
On Friday, patients at the hospital were forcibly transferred to a nearby Indonesian hospital, which doctors warned was too damaged and unfit for use due to a lack of generators and water.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 15 critically ill patients, 50 caregivers and 20 health workers were transported.
Eid Sabaha, director of nursing at Kamal Adwan Hospital, told the BBC that the military ordered the evacuation around 7am on Friday, giving the hospital about 15 minutes to move patients and staff to the courtyard. spoke.
Israeli forces then entered the hospital and removed the remaining patients, he said.
In a statement released on Saturday, the IDF and the Israel Security Agency (ISA) said that intelligence indicates that “terrorists” are using Kamal Adwan Hospital as a command center for military operations in Jabalia. he claimed.
The Israel Defense Forces said its officers were attacked during the operation, and special forces seized weapons near the hospital and arrested 240 militants.
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Photo dated December 25: Palestinians search for victims after Israeli attack in the courtyard of Kamal Adwan Hospital
The IDF said it “facilitated the safe evacuation of civilians, patients and medical personnel” before the operation began.
Gaza’s deputy health minister, Dr. Youssef Abu al-Rish, told the BBC that around 100 medical staff had been taken away for interrogation, with some claiming they had been subjected to psychological torture.
The IDF did not comment on the latter claim when contacted by the BBC.
“Among the suspects taken for interrogation were the director of Kamal Adwan Hospital, who is suspected of being a Hamas terrorist operative, as well as a Hamas engineer and an anti-tank missile operative. ” he added.
The IDF said it “continues to act in accordance with international law regarding medical facilities.”
Critically ill patients were transferred to a nearby Indonesian hospital, which itself was evacuated earlier this week, but doctors said it was not functioning.
“This is not a hospital, but more of a shelter. There are no facilities for patients,” Dr. Abu al-Rish said on Friday.
“It’s dangerous because there are patients in the ICU department who are in a coma and need ventilators and moving them puts them at risk,” said Dr. Saba of Kamal Adwan Hospital.
He said critically ill patients should be transported in special vehicles.
The WHO said the attack “left the last major medical facility in northern Gaza out of commission.”
“Initial reports indicate that some areas of the hospital were burnt and severely damaged during the attack,” the department said in a statement on Saturday.
The WHO added that an emergency mission is being planned to an Indonesian hospital to transfer the patient to southern Gaza for treatment.
“A small fire broke out in a vacant building within the hospital and is under control,” Nadav Shoshani, an international spokesperson for the Israel Defense Forces, said in a post on X Friday night.
He added that this was at a time when IDF forces were not inside the hospital, and that “preliminary examination found no connection between IDF activities and the fire.”
Kamal Adwan, director of the hospital, announced on Friday that a series of Israeli airstrikes near the hospital killed about 50 people, including five medical staff.
According to a statement from Dr. Hassam Abu Safiyah, a building opposite the hospital was targeted by Israeli warplanes, killing a pediatrician, a laboratory technician, and his family.
He said a third staff member, working as a maintenance technician, was targeted and killed as he rushed to the scene of the first attack.
Two hospital paramedics, who were 500 meters (1,640 feet) away from the hospital, were targeted and killed in separate attacks, and their bodies were left on the street with no one to contact them, the statement continued.
The Israeli military said Friday morning that it was “not aware of any attacks in the vicinity of Kamal Adwan Hospital” and was investigating reports that a staff member had been killed.
Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahia has been under a strengthened Israeli blockade imposed on parts of northern Gaza since October, with the military launching an offensive to prevent Hamas from regrouping. Announced.
The United Nations said the area was under “almost total siege” as Israeli forces severely restricted aid deliveries to the area, where an estimated 10,000 to 15,000 people remained.
In recent days, hospital administrators have issued a desperate plea for protection, saying the facility is a regular target of Israeli shelling and explosives.
Oxfam said aid agencies had tried to deliver supplies to the region since October but had failed due to “deliberate delays and systematic obstruction” by the Israeli military.
Additional reporting by Shaimaa Khalil
