GAZA STRIP (AFP) – An Israeli military raid targeting Hamas militants has forced a major hospital in northern Gaza out of service and led to the detention of its director, the World Health Organization (WHO) and health officials said Saturday.
The assault on Kamal Adwan Hospital has rendered the facility “useless”, further worsening Gaza’s severe health crisis, the Palestinian territory’s health officials said.
“This morning’s raid on Kamal Adwan Hospital has put this last major health facility in north Gaza out of service. Initial reports indicate that some key departments were severely burnt and destroyed during the raid,” the WHO said overnight on X, referring to the Israeli operation that began in the early hours of Friday.
The WHO said 60 health workers and 25 patients in critical condition, including some on ventilators, reportedly remain in the hospital.
Patients in moderate to severe condition were forced to evacuate to the destroyed, non-functioning Indonesian Hospital, the United Nations (UN) health agency said, adding it was “deeply concerned for their safety”.
Hamas-run Gaza’s Health Ministry reported that Israeli forces detained Kamal Adwan Hospital’s Director Hossam Abu Safiyeh along with several medical staff members.
Gaza’s civil defence agency said Abu Safiyeh was held alongside its north Gaza chief Ahmed Hassan al-Kahlout. The Israeli military did not comment on the detentions.
In the days leading up to the raid, Abu Safiyeh had repeatedly warned about the hospital’s precarious situation, accusing Israeli forces of targeting the facility.
On Monday, he issued a statement accusing Israel of targeting the hospital “with the intent to kill and forcibly displace the people inside”.
On Thursday, Abu Safiyeh said five staff members of the hospital had been killed in an Israeli strike near the facility.
Since October 6, Israel has intensified its land and air offensive in northern Gaza, saying its goal is to prevent Hamas from regrouping.
The military said on Friday that it was acting on intelligence regarding “terrorist infrastructure and operatives” in the hospital’s vicinity.
Before initiating the latest operation near the hospital, the military said its troops had “facilitated the secure evacuation of civilians, patients, and medical personnel”.
Hamas has denied claims its operatives were present at the hospital, accusing Israeli forces of storming it on Friday.
“The enemy’s lies about the hospital aim to justify the heinous crime committed by the occupation army today, involving the evacuation and burning of all hospital departments as part of a plan for extermination and forced displacement,” Hamas said in a statement.
Gaza’s Health Ministry had earlier quoted Abu Safiyeh reporting that the military had “set on fire all surgery departments of the hospital”.
Abu Safiyeh said the military had also “evacuated the entire medical staff and displaced people”.
“There are a large number of injuries among the medical team.”
