Hossam Abu Safiya, director of Kamal Adwan Hospital, said today, Thursday, that the Israeli occupation army used explosive robots in the vicinity of the building located in Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip, which caused major damage to its facilities, and led to the injury of a nurse as a result of shrapnel penetrating one of the hospital rooms.
Abu Safiya added in a statement, “Unfortunately, last night was worse than the previous night. The explosive robots were very close to the hospital, as it was clear that the amount of explosives used was much greater this time.”
He explained, “The fragments resulting from the explosions penetrated the building and struck one of the patient rooms, directly injuring nurse Hassan Al-Dhaboos, who suffered a serious head injury.”
Abu Safiya stressed that the hospital lacks the necessary resources to adequately deal with such serious cases, and added, “We are making efforts to transfer patients to other hospitals, and I hope that the injured nurse will be transferred to Al-Ahly Baptist Hospital to undergo surgery and provide care for him.”
He pointed out that the hospital is still under threat from drones, and that a woman from the medical staff was injured by shrapnel in the neck as a result of a projectile thrown by an occupation army drone, indicating that her injury is moderate.
Demands for international protection
Abu Safiya called for international protection for the health system in the Gaza Strip in light of the genocide to which the population of the besieged Strip is being subjected and the continued targeting of hospitals.
He explained that the latest explosion, which occurred today, Thursday, around 4:30 a.m. local time, destroyed most of the hospital’s facilities, including doors, windows, and internal barriers, and almost put the intensive care department out of service.
Abu Safiya said that there are about 75 injured people currently in the hospital, in addition to their companions and 180 medical personnel, explaining that the total number of people inside the besieged hospital is 350 people.
He pointed out that the hospital suffers from a severe shortage of medical and food supplies, and faces difficulty in getting medical delegations to reach it. He said that transporting supplies from areas inside the hospital to where the sick and injured are is being done with extreme caution due to the ongoing Israeli bombing.
War crime
Meanwhile, the government media office in Gaza said today that the Israeli occupation army is using explosive robots to target civilians and vital facilities in the Strip.
The office confirmed that the occupation’s use of advanced military technology to target civilians constitutes a war crime.
The occupation army has imposed a strict siege on the northern Gaza Strip since last October 5, and the Palestinians say that Israel wants to occupy the area and turn it into a buffer zone after displacing its residents under the weight of bloody bombardment and preventing the entry of food, water and medicine.
Since October 7, 2023, Israel, with American support, has been committing genocide in the Gaza Strip, leaving more than 153,000 martyrs and wounded, most of them children and women, amid massive destruction and famine that killed dozens of children and the elderly, in one of the worst humanitarian disasters in the world.