Israeli forces detain medics and patients after violent raid on Gaza hospital | News

The Health Ministry in the besieged area said Israeli forces withdrew from Kamal Adwan Hospital after detaining dozens of medics and some patients and causing widespread damage to one of the last functioning hospitals in northern Gaza.

The medical facility is in disarray after being raided and bombed during Israel’s three-week offensive in the north; A senior official from Gaza’s Ministry of Health has called on the World Health Organization (WHO) to evacuate the injured from the hospital, which is considered a lifeline for people in the area. Northern Gaza.

“The smell of death spread throughout the hospital,” Marwan al-Hams, director of field hospitals at the Gaza Ministry of Health, told Al Jazeera, adding that Israeli forces destroyed the hospital’s medical supplies during the raid to prevent medics from rescuing patients. wounded.

More than 600 people, including patients and their companions, were placed in the hospital before the raid on Friday.

At least 44 of the hospital’s 70-person team were detained by the military, medics said on Saturday. It was later reported that 14 of those detained, including hospital director Hussam Abu Safia, were released.

“Shortages of critical medical supplies combined with severely limited access are leaving people without life-saving care,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus shared on X on Saturday.

Al Jazeera correspondent Tariq Abu Azzoum, reporting from Deir al-Balah in central Gaza, said Israeli forces extensively damaged the pharmaceutical warehouse and intensive care unit.

“Everyone knows that Kamal Adwan Hospital is considered a medical lifeline for two-thirds of Palestinians in northern Gaza.”

‘Shooting from all directions’

Hundreds of spent bullet casings were scattered on the ground outside the hospital. The images shared by the Ministry of Health revealed the damage to the buildings and the destroyed wards.

Nurse Mayssoun Alian said Israeli forces surrounded the hospital in the morning and “were being fired upon from all directions.”

“They evacuated all those who took shelter here. They separated the men from the women and formed two rows. “It was very humiliating to have our men’s clothes removed,” he said.

According to images accessed by Al Jazeera, there was chaos inside the hospital, with patients lying on the floor, including the corridors.

A patient and eyewitness at the hospital told Al Jazeera that Israeli forces first shelled the courtyard at around 5am (0300 GMT) on Friday.

“Thirty minutes later, the bulldozers destroyed everything, including the tents that housed the displaced,” he said. “They destroyed the hospital pharmacy and riddled the hospital with bullets. Dr. from the speakers. “They started calling Husam.”

At least two children died in the intensive care unit after Israeli forces destroyed generators and an oxygen station on Friday, medics said.

‘Medicine’

Kamal Adwan Hospital spokesman Hisham Sakani told Al Jazeera that the latest attack was the 14th time the hospital came under Israeli fire.

Israel has repeatedly attacked hospitals since October 7, 2023, when it launched the devastating war. More than 42,000 Palestinians were killed by Israeli forces and much of Gaza was left in ruins. At least 17 of the strip’s 35 hospitals are partially functioning.

On Friday, the UN special rapporteur on health used the new term pharma to describe Israel’s widespread and systematic attacks on healthcare workers and facilities.

The Gaza Ministry of Health stated that all detained medical personnel were detained by the Israeli army without access to food or water. According to the ministry, 3 nurses were injured and 3 ambulances were destroyed.

Among those taken was Mohamed Obeid, head of the orthopedics department at nearby Al-Awda Hospital, according to the hospital, but his current location is unknown.

Hospital director Abu Safia said in images shared on social media on Saturday: He is grieving the loss of his little son.The person killed in the two-day Israeli attack.

An Israeli military spokesman declined to comment on the report. On Friday, the Israeli army said it carried out operations near the hospital based on intelligence indicating the presence of “terrorists and terrorist infrastructure” in the area.

A spokesman for the UN children’s agency said that the north of Gaza became a disaster area after the Israeli army’s three-week ground operation.

Rosalia Bollen of UNICEF told Al Jazeera: “Attacks are increasing, hospitals and schools used as shelters have not been spared.”

“It was extremely difficult to transport supplies to the north, where only 224 trucks could reach. But 224 trucks is the number we want to get daily, not for a month. There is no food or water for patients in hospitals. “There is no fuel, no electricity.”

The Ministry of Health reported that approximately 800 people died in Israel’s attacks on Jabalia, Beit Hanoun and Beit Lahiya in the north of Gaza, which lasted three weeks.