Here’s what we know so far about the Israeli assault on Kamal Adwan Hospital and the escalating humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
Early Friday morning, Israeli occupation forces stormed the Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahia, northern Gaza, forcibly evacuating medical staff and patients while detaining a large number of individuals present at the hospital, Palestinian media reported.
The detainees, including medical staff, were taken to an undisclosed location.
The director of the hospital, Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, released a statement detailing the atrocities unfolding inside the hospital and its vicinity.
‘Catastrophic’
Describing the situation in and around the hospital as “catastrophic,” Dr. Abu Safiya reported scores of casualties, including four members of the hospital’s medical staff.
“No surgeons are left,” he warned, adding, “The only medical team that was performing operations was the Indonesian medical delegation, and they were the first to be forced to leave toward a checkpoint.”
“Medical supplies are running out, and there are hundreds of victims,” he said, reflecting on the size of the tragedy.
Detailing the sequence of events, the hospital director said, “At first, there were a series of airstrikes on the northern and western sides of the hospital, accompanied by heavy and direct fire, which fortunately did not result in any injuries inside the hospital.”
“Then we were surprised by two people entering the hospital carrying a loudspeaker, ordering me to evacuate all patients, displaced persons, and medical (staff) to the hospital yard and forcibly take them out to the checkpoint,” Dr. Abu Safiya continued.
He also said he was asked to secure one escort for each patient and displaced person to help with the evacuation, only to describe how, in the morning, they woke up to hundreds of dead bodies and wounded individuals in the streets surrounding the hospital.
“The oxygen generators were targeted at night, and now there are only two inexperienced surgeons available to operate on patients,” Dr. Abu Safiya added, stating that they were forced to start operations despite their lack of experience as 20 wounded individuals needed urgent care.
Doctors from the Indonesian medical delegation at Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza speak about being threatened and forced by Israeli forces out of the hospital after the army raided the facility on Friday morning. pic.twitter.com/iEuLSomiGW
— The Palestine Chronicle (@PalestineChron) December 6, 2024
The medical chief called on human rights organizations and international institutions to take action immediately to save whatever can be saved as a result of the “repeated war crimes that have become a daily routine for the occupation.”
Simultaneously, Israeli forces demolished a residential block near the hospital, killing at least 30 Palestinians and injuring dozens more. The explosion also caused extensive damage in the area.
For nearly two months, Kamal Adwan Hospital has been under a strict siege by invading Israeli units, which have blocked the entry of medical supplies, food, staff, and ambulances, effectively preventing the hospital from operating normally.
In addition to the brutal Israeli aggression on Kamal Adwan Hospital, Israeli forces forcibly expelled an Indonesian medical delegation that was providing assistance at the facility.
After storming the hospital, the Israeli forces ordered the delegation to leave, disrupting the vital medical support they were offering to patients amid the escalating Israeli carnage.
Doctor Hussam Abu Safiya, the Director of Kamal Adwan Hospital, described the catastrophic conditions threatening the lives of patients and the injured due to the ongoing attacks targeting the hospital amidst a severe Israeli siege on northern Gaza.
Abu Safiya called on the… pic.twitter.com/ntb6CFgNha
— Quds News Network (@QudsNen) December 5, 2024
‘No Warning’
Richard Peeperkorn, the World Health Organization representative for the occupied Palestinian territory, says the hospital in northern Gaza is still minimally operational after it was struck in an Israeli attack.
“There was no official warning or evacuation order before the bombing of the hospital, only rumors that spread panic,” he added.
Peeperkorn stressed, “Some 12,000 patients across Gaza still need medical evacuation, only 78 have been evacuated.”
The fact that the attack on the hospital occurred just a week after Israeli authorities had facilitated the entry of an Indonesian emergency medical team into it was particularly concerning, according to WHO.
‘Below Zero’
Meanwhile, Dr. Marwan Al-Hums, Director of Field Hospitals in Gaza, said in a statement on Friday that “services in northern Gaza have reached below zero due to the brutal Zionist aggression in the area.”
“The occupation continues to bomb Kamal Adwan Hospital and its surroundings using quadcopter drones,” he said, slamming the attacks as blatant violations of “all international norms and laws.”
Dr. al-Hums called “on medical delegations to enter Gaza to convey the message and the reality to the world,” noting that “the situation in southern Gaza and the central region is no less severe than what is happening in the north.”
The siege of Kamal Adwan Hospital has been ongoing for two months – the warnings issued by hospital Director Dr Abu Safiya shamefully ignored
Today: four Kamal Adwan staff among many killed by airstrike, the facility forcibly emptied of staff & patientshttps://t.co/izGXta68z8
— ICJP (@ICJPalestine) December 6, 2024
‘End Inaction’
In a statement on Friday, the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas harshly condemned Israel’s bombing and storming of Kamal Adwan Hospital, which “marks a significant escalation in the ongoing campaign of ethnic cleansing and forced displacement.”
“We urge the World Health Organization to dispatch an international committee to investigate the violations being committed against Kamal Adwan Hospital and the broader health system,” the statement said, adding:
“We call on the international community to end its pattern of inaction and take immediate, decisive steps to halt the occupation’s ongoing violations against our people.”
Israeli Forces Storm, Attack Kamal Adwan Hospital – Scores Killed, Detained
Ongoing Genocide
Flouting a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire, Israel has faced international condemnation amid its continued brutal offensive on Gaza.
Currently on trial before the International Court of Justice for genocide against Palestinians, Israel has been waging a devastating war on Gaza since October 7.
According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, 44,612 Palestinians have been killed, and 105,834 wounded in Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza starting on October 7, 2023.
Moreover, at least 11,000 people are unaccounted for, presumed dead under the rubble of their homes throughout the Strip.
Israel says that 1,200 soldiers and civilians were killed during the Al-Aqsa Flood Operation on October 7. Israeli media published reports suggesting that many Israelis were killed on that day by ‘friendly fire’.
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Palestinian and international organizations say that the majority of those killed and wounded are women and children.
The Israeli war has resulted in an acute famine, mostly in northern Gaza, resulting in the death of many Palestinians, mostly children.
The Israeli aggression has also resulted in the forceful displacement of nearly two million people from all over the Gaza Strip, with the vast majority of the displaced forced into the densely crowded southern city of Rafah near the border with Egypt – in what has become Palestine’s largest mass exodus since the 1948 Nakba.
Later in the war, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians began moving from the south to central Gaza in a constant search for safety.
(The Palestine Chronicle)
