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An Israeli military raid on a hospital in Gaza knocked out the last major health facility in the besieged strip’s north, exacerbating a worsening humanitarian crisis in the enclave, according to the UN health agency.
The attack on the Kamal Adwan hospital comes as Israel has intensified its offensive in northern Gaza that began in October and has killed hundreds and forced tens of thousands to flee.
The Israeli military said it was fighting to prevent Hamas from regrouping in northern Gaza, where most of the population was forced to flee during Israel’s 14-month offensive against the Palestinian militant group.
The World Health Organization said initial reports indicated that key departments of the medical facility were severely burned and destroyed during Friday’s raid.
It said 60 health workers and 25 patients in critical condition, including those on ventilators, remained in hospital, while others were forced to evacuate to another damaged hospital.
“The systematic dismantling of the health system in Gaza is a death sentence for tens of thousands of Palestinians in need of health care,” the WHO said in a statement Friday evening. “This horror must end and health care must be protected. »
The Palestinian Ministry of Health said Kamal Adwan’s operating and surgical departments, laboratory, maintenance, ambulances and warehouses had “been completely burned.”
“The occupying army is forcibly transferring the sick and wounded at gunpoint. . . at the Indonesian hospital, which lacks medical supplies, water, medicines and even electricity and generators,” he said in a statement. “Some patients are threatened with death at any time due to the difficult conditions. »
The Israeli military announced Saturday that it had completed a two-day operation at the hospital after the facility was transformed into a “major terrorist stronghold” by Hamas.
Some 240 suspected militants were arrested at the hospital, some of whom posed as patients, including hospital director Hussam Abu Safiya, who is currently “being questioned in Gaza”, spokesman Nadav Shoshani said.
The Israeli military categorically denied that its forces were responsible for starting a “small fire in an empty building” at the facility the day before, which Shoshani said caused minimal damage.
Hamas denied that its fighters were using the hospital for military purposes.
UN agencies and humanitarian groups have repeatedly condemned Israel for attacking medical facilities in Gaza since it launched its offensive against Hamas after the Palestinian group’s October 7, 2023 attack killed 1 200 people.
The WHO said it had verified 516 attacks on health facilities and medical transports in Gaza, adding that more than 90 percent of medical facilities in the Gaza Strip were either damaged or destroyed.
Israeli offensive in northern Gaza continues as mediators struggle to reach an agreement to end the war and secure the release of remaining Israeli hostages held in the Gaza Strip before the return of the US president-elect Donald Trump at the White House next month.
The operation reduced Jabalia, which before the war was Gaza’s largest refugee camp and housed more than 100,000 people, to rubble and spread to neighboring Beit Lahia, home to Kamal Adwan Hospital.
On Saturday, the Israeli army announced that its forces had begun operations in the Beit Hanoun district.
During the day, two long-range rockets were fired from the area towards Jerusalem, according to Israeli authorities – the first such barrage from Gaza in months. The projectiles were intercepted by Israeli air defense.
The Israeli offensive has killed more than 45,000 people, according to Palestinian health officials, and forced the vast majority of the Gaza Strip’s 2.3 million residents to leave their homes.
