One of the last operating hospitals in northern Gaza has been forced to evacuate by Israeli forces, medics say. Dozens of people are reported to have been killed in airstrikes targeting areas around Israeli military medical facilities.
Eid Sabbah, head of nursing at Kamal Adwan Hospital, told the BBC that around 7am on Friday the military gave the administration 15 minutes to evacuate patients and staff to the hospital courtyard.
Israeli forces then entered the hospital and were transporting the remaining patients, he said.
The Israeli military said Friday afternoon that it was conducting operations in an area of the hospital called a “Hamas terrorist stronghold.”
The Israeli military “facilitated the safe evacuation of civilians, patients and medical staff” from the hospital before starting the operation, he added.
The military did not say where the patients would be transported. But earlier this week, Israeli officials said they planned to transfer people at Kamal Adwan Hospital to a nearby Indonesian hospital, which was evacuated by the military on Tuesday.
“It’s dangerous because there are patients in the intensive care unit who are in a coma and needing a ventilator, so moving them could put them at risk,” Dr. Sabbah said.
“Specialized vehicles will be needed for the military to continue removing these patients.”
The World Health Organization (WHO) said the raid “disrupted services at the last major health facility in northern Gaza.”
On Friday evening the
This came hours after hospital director Kamal Adwan said a series of Israeli airstrikes targeting the hospital had killed about 50 people, including five medical staff.
Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya said in a statement that a building opposite the hospital was targeted by Israeli warplanes, killing a pediatrician, a lab technician and their families.
He said a third employee, who worked as a maintenance technician, was targeted and killed as he rushed to the site of the first attack.
Two of the hospital’s paramedics were killed 500 meters away when they were targeted in another attack, the statement continued. Their bodies were left in the streets with no one able to reach them.
The Israeli military said Friday morning it was “unaware of an attack in the area of Kamal Adwan Hospital” and was investigating reports that a staff member had been killed.
Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahia has been tightening Israel’s blockade of the northern Gaza Strip since October, when the military said it had launched an offensive to prevent Hamas from regrouping in Gaza.
The United Nations said the region was under “near-total siege” as Israeli forces restricted aid transport to the area, where about 10,000 to 15,000 people remain.
In recent days, hospital administrators have issued a desperate plea for protection, saying the facility has been regularly targeted by Israeli shelling and explosives.
Oxfam said attempts by aid groups to deliver aid to the area since October had failed due to “deliberate delays and systematic obstruction” by the Israeli military.
