Israel forcibly evacuates Kamal Adwan hospital in northern Gaza
The last functioning hospital in northern Gaza has been forcibly evacuated by the Israeli military, medics said, as Israeli attacks targeting areas around the medical facility reportedly killed dozens of people.
Eid Sabbah, director of nursing at Kamal Adwan Hospital, told the BBC that at around 07:00 on Friday, the military gave the government 15 minutes to evacuate patients and staff to the compound.
He said Israeli forces then entered the hospital and removed the remaining patients.
The Israeli military said on Friday afternoon that it was carrying out operations in the hospital area, describing the area as a “Hamas terrorist stronghold.”
The statement added that Israeli forces had “assisted the safe evacuation of civilians, patients and medical staff” from the hospital before the operation began.
The military did not say where the patients would be transferred. But earlier this week, an Israeli official said they intended to move personnel from Kamal Adwan Hospital to a nearby Indonesian hospital, which was evacuated by the military on Tuesday.
“This is dangerous because there are comatose patients in the intensive care unit who need ventilators, and moving them puts them at risk,” Dr. Saba said.
“If the military intends to continue moving these patients, they will need specialized vehicles.”
Gaza’s deputy health minister, Dr Yousef Abu-Al-Rish, later told the BBC that patients in serious condition had been taken to an Indonesian hospital, which he said was inoperable because it had no generator or water.
“You can’t call it a hospital, it’s more like a shelter. It has no facilities for patients,” said Dr. Abu-Al-Rish.
The World Health Organization said the attack “put the last major health facility in northern Gaza out of service”.
“Preliminary reports indicate that some key departments were severely burned and damaged during the raid,” a message posted on X on Friday evening.
“A small fire broke out in an empty building inside the hospital and is currently under control,” Israel Defense Forces (IDF) international spokesman Nadav Shoshani said in a post on X on Friday evening.
IDF troops were not present at the hospital at the time, he said, adding that “preliminary inspections did not reveal any connection between IDF activity and the fire”.
A few hours ago, the director of Kamal Adwan Hospital said that a series of Israeli air strikes near the hospital had killed about 50 people, including five medical staff.
Dr. Hussam Abu Safia issued a statement saying that a building opposite the hospital was attacked by Israeli warplanes, killing a pediatrician and a laboratory technician and their families.
He said a third worker working as a maintenance technician was attacked and killed as he rushed to the scene of the first strike.
The statement went on to say that two hospital paramedics were attacked and killed in another attack 500m (1,640 feet) from the hospital, with their bodies left in the street where no one could 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 staff members had been killed.
The Kamal Adwan Hospital in Berahiya has been under an intensified Israeli blockade of parts of northern Gaza since October, when the military said it had launched an offensive to prevent Hamas from regrouping there.
The United Nations says the area is under a “near total siege” as Israeli forces severely restrict the delivery of aid to an area where an estimated 10,000 to 15,000 people still live.
Administrators at the hospital have issued desperate appeals for protection in recent days as they say the facility is a frequent target of Israeli shelling and explosives.
Oxfam said aid agencies had tried to deliver supplies to the area since October but had failed due to “deliberate delays and systemic obstruction” by the Israeli military.
Additional reporting by Shaimaa Khalil
