Important hospital in northern Gaza is under Israeli fire

Health officials in the region said Israeli forces entered the Kamal Adwan Hospital compound in northern Gaza and opened fire after besieging the facility for days.

The Gaza health ministry and the director of the hospital in Beit Lahiya in northern Gaza told CNN that the Israeli army had entered the hospital building twice in the past 24 hours and opened fire on parts of the complex.

Health officials in Gaza have told CNN over the past few days that the facility is running low on supplies and that aid is urgently needed due to an influx of injured people from neighboring areas.

Hospital director Dr Hussam Abu Safiya said in a video that Israeli tanks and bulldozers entered the hospital compound late on Thursday and began firing on parts of the complex, adding that “all parts of the hospital were under direct bombardment”.

“Instead of getting aid, we’re getting tanks,” he said.

Kamal Adwan is one of three minimally operating hospitals in northern Gaza and the hospital closest to Israeli military activities in Beit Lahiya and Jabalya Refugee Camp. Despite its limited capacity, it receives most of the casualties from surrounding conflicts.

World Health Organization (WHO) chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Friday that since the raid on Kamal Adwan hospital, WHO had “lost contact with the staff there”.

“This development is extremely disturbing, considering the number of patients served and the number of people housed there,” Ghebreyesus said in a statement to X. He said before Friday’s raid, WHO and its partners “managed to reach Kamal Adwan in the midst of surrounding hostilities and he was transferred there.” “23 patients and 26 caregivers were taken to Al-Shifa Hospital.”

The Israeli army said in a statement on Friday that its forces were operating in the Kamal Adwan Hospital area “based on intelligence information regarding the presence of terrorists and terrorist infrastructure”, adding that “the IDF facilitated the operation” in the weeks before the operation. Evacuation of patients from the area while emergency services are maintained.”

COGAT, the Israeli organization that manages the flow of aid to the strip, said in a statement on Friday that many patients and their companions were evacuated from the facility with the help of UNICEF and WHO. The hospital was also given fuel, blood units and medical equipment.

However, WHO’s Ghebreyesus stated that the hospital in X housed approximately 200 patients and hundreds of them wanted to take shelter here.

‘I was shocked by the entry of bulldozers and tanks’

Gaza Health Ministry official Maher Shamiya told CNN on Friday that the Israeli army destroyed parts of the hospital wall. He said the oxygen station was also damaged by Israeli fire.

Shamiya said that the army entered the hospital garden for the second time on Friday morning and started separating men from women.

“After that it became impossible to communicate with anyone.”

In her video message, Safiya stated that she was “shocked by the entry of bulldozers and tanks into the hospital compound”, adding that the tanks began firing on the upper floors, breaking windows and “creating an atmosphere of panic, terror and fear”.

“Everyone in the hospital gathered in the stairwell; “It was a very sad scene,” he said.

One video showed Abu Safiya speaking from the Intensive Care Unit, where patients and medical staff were gathered. He said some of the seriously injured people lost their lives. Abu Safiya said many properties around the hospital were set on fire.

He said a convoy of supplies from the World Health Organization arrived at the hospital late Thursday night. The video shows a fuel tanker and other vehicles near the facility.

The convoy delivered enough fuel for five days, as well as 200 units of blood and a few other supplies, but did not provide food or water, Abu Safiya said.

He said he was in contact with Israeli officials.

“I explained the conditions of the patients and injured people in the hospital and emphasized that their condition was extremely critical and evacuation was necessary.”

The health ministry in Gaza told CNN on Friday that 23 injured people were evacuated in six ambulances. Abu Safiya said there were 70 critically injured people in the hospital who needed to be evacuated.

Abu Safiya also told CNN that there were many injured in the Jabalya region in the north of Gaza, which has been subjected to intense Israeli military operations in recent days.

“We have no medical aid to reach them, and even if they reach us, I have no way of helping them. “We have nothing to offer them.”

It has been 21 days since Israel increased its military operation in northern Gaza. Officials in Gaza say the military is preventing aid from reaching the area and displacing many of its residents. Israel says it is preventing Hamas from recovering.

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