'Last Major Health Facility In North Gaza Out Of Service,' Says WHO After Israeli Soldiers Burn Kamal Adwan Hospital

The Israeli military said the hospital was being used by Hamas fighters as a base, although it did not provide evidence.

Jerusalem: Israeli soldiers stormed and burned one of the last hospitals operating in northern Gaza after forcibly removing staff and patients on Friday, Health Ministry officials said. The Israeli military said the hospital was being used by Hamas fighters as a base, although it did not provide evidence.

The World Health Organization said the raid on Kamal Adwan Hospital had put the last major health facility in North Gaza out of service. "60 health workers and 25 patients in critical condition, including those on ventilators, reportedly remain in the hospital. The patients in moderate to severe condition were forced to evacuate to the destroyed and non-functional Indonesian Hospital. WHO is deeply concerned for their safety," WHO said in a statement.

"The systematic dismantling of the health system in Gaza is a death sentence for tens of thousands of Palestinians in need of health care," it added.

Gaza's Health Ministry said Israeli troops set fires in several parts of Kamal Adwan Hospital, including the lab and surgery department. Israel's military said there was only a small fire in an empty hospital building, and was unaware of any Israeli gunfire causing the blaze.

Kamal Adwan Hospital has been hit multiple times over the past three months by Israeli troops waging an offensive against Hamas fighters in surrounding neighborhoods, according to staff. The ministry said a strike on the hospital a day earlier killed five medical staff.

Israel's military said it was conducting operations against Hamas infrastructure and militants in the area and had ordered people out of the hospital, but said it had not entered the complex as of Friday night. It repeated claims that Hamas militants operate inside Kamal Adwan but provided no evidence. Hospital officials have denied that.

The Health Ministry said troops forced medical personnel and patients to assemble in the yard and remove their clothes. Some were led to an unknown location, while some patients were sent to the nearby Indonesian Hospital, which was knocked out of operation after an Israel raid this week.

Israeli troops during raids frequently carry out mass detentions, stripping men to their underwear for questioning in what the military says is a security measure as they search for Hamas fighters.

The Associated Press doesn’t have access to Kamal Adwan, but armed plainclothes members of the Hamas-led police forces have been seen in other hospitals, maintaining security but also controlling access to parts of the facilities.

The Health Ministry said Israeli troops also set fires in several parts of Kamal Adwan, including the lab and surgery department. It said 25 patients and 60 health workers remained in the hospital. The account could not be independently confirmed, and attempts to reach hospital staff were unsuccessful.

“Fire is ablaze everywhere in the hospital,” an unidentified staff member said in an audio message posted on social media accounts of hospital director Hossam Abu Safiya. The staffer said some evacuated patients had been unhooked from oxygen.

“There are currently patients who could die at any moment,” she said.

Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani, an Israeli military spokesman, denied the accusations.

“While IDF troops were not in the hospital, a small fire broke out in an empty building inside the hospital that is under control,” he said Friday night. He said a preliminary investigation found “no connection” between military activity and the fire.

The Israeli military heavily restricts the movements of Palestinians in Gaza and has barred foreign journalists from entering the territory throughout the war, making it difficult to verify information.

“These actions put the lives of all of these people in even more danger than what they faced before,” U.N. spokesperson Stephanie Tremblay told journalists, and noted colleagues' reports of “significant damage” to the hospital. It should be protected as international law requires, she added.

A largely isolated north

Since October, Israel’s offensive has virtually sealed off the northern Gaza areas of Jabaliya, Beit Hanoun and Beit Lahiya and leveled large parts of them. Tens of thousands of Palestinians were forced out but thousands are believed to remain in the area, where Kamal Adwan and two other hospitals are located. Troops raided Kamal Adwan in October, and on Tuesday troops stormed and evacuated the Indonesian Hospital.

The area has been cut off from food and other aid for months, raising fears of famine. The United Nations says Israeli troops allowed just four humanitarian deliveries to the area from Dec. 1 to Dec. 23.

The Israeli rights group Physicians for Human Rights-Israel this week petitioned Israel’s High Court of Justice, seeking a halt to military attacks on Kamal Adwan. It warned that forcibly evacuating the hospital would “abandon thousands of residents in northern Gaza.” Before the latest deaths Thursday, the group documented five other staffers killed by Israeli fire since October.

Israel launched its campaign in Gaza vowing to destroy Hamas after the group’s Oct. 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel in which militants killed around 1,200 people and abducted some 250 others. Around 100 Israelis remain captive in Gaza, and around a third are believed to be dead.

Israel’s nearly 15-month-old campaign of bombardment and offensives has devastated the territory’s health sector. A year ago, it carried out raids on hospitals in northern Gaza, including Kamal Adwan, Indonesian and al-Awda Hospital, saying they served as bases for Hamas, though it presented little evidence.

Israel’s campaign has killed more than 45,400 Palestinians, more than half women and children, and wounded more than 108,000 others, according to the Health Ministry. Its count does not distinguish between civilians and combatants. (With inputs from agencies)