North Gaza hospital director says Israeli strikes hit facility 

 

The bodies of victims lie in the courtyard of the Kamal Adwan hospital in Beit Lahya in the northern Gaza Strip, following a reported Israeli strike that hit the medical complex on Dec. 6, 2024.

Beit Lahia, Palestinian Territories —

The director of north Gaza\’s Kamal Adwan hospital and the territory\’s civil defense agency said Israel conducted several strikes on Friday that hit the facility, one of the last functioning health centers in the area.

"There was a series of air strikes on the northern and western sides of the hospital, accompanied by intense and direct fire," Hossam Abu Safieh said, adding that four staff were killed and no surgeons were left at the site.

The Israeli army has not yet responded to AFP requests for comment on the strikes.

Mahmud Bassal, Gaza\’s civil defense spokesman, told AFP on Friday morning that the Israeli army entered Kamal Adwan hospital, evacuated patients and arrested several Palestinians.

The city of Beit Lahia has been the site of an intense Israeli military operation for the past two months that has intensified in recent days, forcing thousands to flee amid bombing, the civil defense agency said.

FILE – Women and children wait for medical attention as they sit on the floor of the trauma ward in the Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahia the northern Gaza Strip, Oct. 24, 2024.

The Israeli army has stormed Kamal Adwan on several occasions since the start of the war nearly 14 months ago, while the hospital said that its intensive care unit director Ahmad al-Kahlut was killed in an air strike late last month.

The army\’s storming of Kamal Adwan comes just days after the UN\’s World Health Organization said an emergency medical team had reached it for the first time in 60 days.

With little to no aid reaching Kamal Adwan since the start of the Israeli operation in Gaza\’s far north in early October, the hospital had run out of most supplies, including fuel.

The Israeli army says its operation in the north aims to keep Hamas militants from regrouping there.

Rights groups have accused it of pursuing a plan to evacuate or starve all those remaining there, which it denies.

Israeli government spokesman David Mencer said on Thursday that residents of the north would not be allowed to move back there as long as the military operations are ongoing.

The war in Gaza was sparked by Hamas\’s surprise October 7, 2023 attack which resulted in the deaths of 1,208 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official data.

Hamas and Hezbollah have been designated a terrorist organization by the United States, Britain, the European Union and others.

Israel\’s retaliatory military campaign in Gaza has resulted in at least 44,580 deaths, mostly civilians, according to data from the territory\’s Hamas-run health ministry, which the U.N. considers reliable.

 

By：VOA