The Israeli army denies entering the establishment or setting it on fire and accuses Hamas of using the establishment as a cover.
Israeli troops stormed and burned one of the last functioning hospitals in the northern part of the Gaza Strip, forcing many of the staff and patients to leave the facility.
This is what the Gaza health ministry, run by Hamas, says.
In a message posted on X, the Israeli army said it had begun a “operational activity” around Kamal-Adwan Hospital following intelligence reports of“terrorist activities” in the sector.
The Israeli military later denied entering or setting fire to the facility and accused Hamas of using the facility as a cover.
Hospital officials denied the report.
Gaza’s health ministry said troops forced medical staff and patients to gather in the courtyard and remove their clothes.
Claiming that some were taken to an unknown location, while others were sent to the nearby Indonesian hospital, which was put out of service following an Israeli raid this week.
During raids, Israeli army troops frequently carry out mass detentions, stripping men down to their underwear for interrogation, which the army says is a security measure as part of the search for Hamas fighters.
The Gaza Health Ministry said Israeli troops also started fires in several parts of the hospital, including the laboratory and surgery department.
He said 25 patients and 60 health workers were still in the hospital.
“The fire is everywhere in the hospital”, an unidentified staff member said in an audio message posted on the social media accounts of hospital director Hussam Abu Safiya. The latter would be detained by Israel for questioning, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
The staff member said some evacuated patients had been disconnected from oxygen.
Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani, a spokesman for the Israeli army, denied the accusations.
“While IDF troops were not in the hospital, a small fire broke out in an empty building inside the hospital and is under control”he said.
He added that a preliminary investigation had found no “no link” between the military operation and the fire.
ADVERTISEMENTThe Israeli military heavily restricts Palestinian movement in Gaza and has barred foreign journalists from entering the territory for the duration of the war, making it difficult to verify information.
“These actions put the lives of all these people in even greater danger than before”Stéphanie Tremblay, a UN spokesperson, told reporters, noting her colleagues’ reports of “significant damage” at the hospital.
“It must be protected as required by international law”she added.
Since October, the new Israeli offensive in the north of the enclave, which aims, according to Israel, to prevent Hamas units from regrouping, has practically sealed off the areas of Jabaliya, Beit Hanoun and Beit Lahiya and in shaved large parts.
ADVERTISEMENTTens of thousands of Palestinians have been driven out, but thousands more are believed to have remained in the area, where Kamal Adwan Hospital and two other hospitals are located.
The region has been deprived of food and other aid for months, raising fears of famine among international aid groups.
According to the United Nations, Israeli troops authorized only four humanitarian deliveries to the region in December.
Israeli rights group Physicians for Human Rights-Israel filed a petition with Israel’s High Court of Justice this week, calling for a halt to military attacks on Kamal Adwan Hospital.
ADVERTISEMENTHe warned that the forced evacuation of the hospital would have the effect “to abandon thousands of residents of northern Gaza.”
