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Israeli forces raided Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahiya, northern Gaza, overnight Friday, expelling some staff and displaced individuals before withdrawing, according to hospital director Hussam Abu Safiya.
Outside, the streets were littered with bodies from earlier airstrikes.
Abu Safiya said the assault began with airstrikes targeting the hospital’s western and northern sides, followed by heavy gunfire.
Speaking in an online chatroom monitored by Reuters, he described how troops forced all staff, patients and displaced people into the hospital courtyard.
Most were allowed back inside hours later, but some – including an Indonesian emergency surgery team – were permanently expelled.
The Israeli military declined immediate comment.
It has accused Hamas of using civilian buildings, including hospitals, schools, and apartment blocks, for operational cover throughout the 14-month Gaza war.
Hamas has denied this, accusing Israel of indiscriminate bombings and assaults.
“This morning, we were shocked to see hundreds of bodies and wounded individuals in the streets surrounding the hospital,” Abu Safiya said in another statement posted online.
“The situation inside the hospital and in its vicinity is catastrophic. There are a large number of martyrs and wounded individuals, and no surgeons are left,” he said.
Gaza’s Health Ministry said the three main hospitals on the northern end of the enclave are barely functioning and have been under repeated attack since Israel sent tanks into Beit Lahiya and nearby Beit Hanoun and Jabalia in October.
Distress call
In a distress call on Friday, the ministry accused the Israeli military of committing a “war crime” at Kamal Adwan Hospital by perpetrating “all forms of killing and violence inside and around it.”
It added: “The injured who remained inside are in critical condition and need immediate medical care.”
The ministry said only half of the 37 hospitals and clinics in the war-devastated territory remain operational but lack essential equipment, manpower, and medical and fuel supplies.
The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday that Israeli forces had bombed Kamal Adwan Hospital early on Thursday, apparently without warning its staff in advance.
“That is extremely concerning and should never happen,” WHO spokesperson Rik Peeperkorn said at a Geneva briefing by video link. The hospital is now “minimally functional,” he added.
Residents of Beit Lahiya said the Israeli army blew up several houses overnight near Kamal Adwan Hospital.
Palestine says Israel plans to carve out a buffer zone along Gaza’s northern fringes after depopulating the area. Israel denies this.
Israel launched its genocidal air and ground assault on densely populated Gaza following Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 incursion on southern Israel, killing 1,200 people and capturing more than 250 hostages.
Since then, Israeli forces have laid much of Gaza to waste, displacing nearly the entire 2.3 million population and have killed more than 44,500 Gazans, mostly women and children, with thousands more feared dead under the rubble.
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