Israeli attack closes last functioning hospital in north Gaza
Northern Gaza's health system is now completely out of service following an Israeli invasion of the last operational hospital in the area on Friday, a health official said.
According to Marwan al-Homs, the director of field hospitals at the Palestinian health ministry, around 200 critically wounded patients at the Kamal Adwan Hospital are at risk of imminent death after an invasion by Israeli forces that destroyed medical supplies and detained staff.
"If the world does not intervene to stop this crime and the genocide in Gaza, the certain fate of these patients is death," he told Al Jazeera during a live interview on Saturday.
"Israeli soldiers destroyed all drug inventories at the hospital yesterday, claiming they were looking for militants. Now, all drug stocks have been deliberately damaged to prevent doctors from saving the lives of the wounded.
"The smell of death is everywhere at the hospital and in its vicinity," he added.
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Israeli forces stormed Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahia on Friday at around 2am local time (12am GMT).
The assault began with air strikes targeting the hospital and its courtyards, including the medical oxygen generator, according to Dr Munir al-Bursh, director general of the Palestinian health ministry.
The bombing of the oxygen supply caused the deaths of children in the hospital and wounded medical staff, Bursh said.
"Instead of receiving aid, we receive tanks... which are shelling the [hospital] building," said Dr Hussam Abu Safiya, the director of Kamal Adwan Hospital, in a video published on his social media shortly after the attack.
On Saturday, health officials said Abu Safiya’s son had died as a result of the Israeli invasion on the hospital.
Social media users shared footage from Ibrahim Abu Safiya's funeral, with his father leading prayers and participating in the burial ceremony.
الدكتور حسام أبو صفية، مدير مستشفى كمال عدوان، يستقبل جثمان ابنه الذي استشهد، بينما كان الدكتور حسام على رأس عمله مرتديًا زيه الرسمي، يؤدي واجبه تجاه أبناء شعبنا الفلسطيني. نسأل الله أن يربط على قلبه.
— د. منير عبدالله البرش (@Dr_Muneer1) October 26, 2024
Dr. Hossam Abu Safia, Director of Kamal Adwan Hospital, receives the body of… pic.twitter.com/aF9novR3YA
A few hours after the air strikes, Israeli troops raided the hospital and called on all patients, including those in intensive care, to gather in the courtyard.
They assaulted everyone inside, the director of nursing at the hospital told Al Araby TV.
"Hundreds of patients, medical staff and some displaced people from homes near the hospital, who had sought shelter there from the continuous shelling, have been detained," the Palestinian health ministry said in a statement.
"No food, medicines and medical supplies necessary to save the lives of the wounded and patients in the hospital have been supplied or provided."
According to Homs, after Israeli troops withdrew from the hospital, quadcopters began firing at it, injuring more people inside.
Extermination
The director-general of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, denounced the attack on Kamal Adwan Hospital as “deeply disturbing”.
He said the WHO had lost touch with its personnel there.
“Kamal Adwan Hospital has been overflowing with close to 200 patients - a constant stream of horrific trauma cases. It is also full of hundreds of people seeking shelter, he wrote on X.
“We call for an immediate ceasefire; and protection of hospitals, patients, health professionals and humanitarians,” he added.
Kamal Adwan is one of three hospitals in northern Gaza heavily affected by the intense Israeli siege and attacks since Israel launched a new offensive in the area on 5 October.
The other two hospitals, the Indonesian Hospital and al-Awda Hospital, ceased operations in recent days due to Israeli attacks and severe shortages of food, medicine and fuel.
Until the Israeli raid on Friday, Kamal Adwan Hospital had been operating at minimal capacity, providing life-saving care to newborn infants in neonatal intensive care units and other patients in ICUs.
Rights groups have condemned Israel's operation in northern Gaza as part of a plan to ethnically cleanse the area of Palestinians.
A UN inquiry earlier this month accused Israel of committing war crimes and the crime against humanity of extermination in Gaza through its attacks on the healthcare system.
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