The Ministry of Health in Gaza announced that the Israeli occupation forces stormed Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahia, north of the Strip, after bombing and besieging it for several days.
Ministry spokesman Ashraf Al-Qudra said that the Israeli occupation forces gathered the men, including medical staff, in the hospital courtyard, and there are fears that they will be arrested or liquidated.
Al-Qudra added that the Israeli forces storming the hospital are asking its administration and medical staff to hand over a weapon to the hospital security man. This means that he wants to justify his storming of the hospital with this criminal behavior and fabricate a new lie, as he put it.
He expressed his fear that the Israeli forces would use this weapon as a pretext against the medical staff and the hospital, referring to the Israeli army’s attempts to justify its storming of medical facilities by saying that the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) uses it in its operations.
The number of patients inside the hospital is 60 wounded, 12 children, and 100 medical and administrative staff, in addition to more than 3,000 displaced people.
Surrounding the hospital
The director of Kamal Adwan Hospital, Ahmed Al-Kahlot, announced that 3 children in the hospital besieged by Israeli forces lost their lives in the past three days due to lack of oxygen, warning that more lives would be lost for the same reason.
He pointed out that the running out of food and drinking water threatens the lives of patients and their companions trapped inside the hospital.
Al-Kahlot said, “There is no water, electricity, or medical supplies inside the hospital’s corridors, and the conditions are very difficult. We are currently unable to perform surgical operations, and we may lose control completely if the Israeli siege continues.”
Yesterday, Monday, Al-Kahlot confirmed that two women and their two children were killed, a third woman was injured, and her foot was amputated after the Israeli army targeted the maternity and women’s ward inside the hospital.
He explained that the Israeli army is surrounding the hospital with tanks and firepower, targeting all roads leading to the hospital, and targeting anyone who tries to enter it.
The Ministry of Health in Gaza called on the United Nations, the World Health Organization and the Red Cross to move immediately to save the lives of those trapped in the hospital and protect them.
Last week, the Ministry announced that the Israeli forces penetrating the northern Gaza Strip had taken Kamal Adwan Hospital out of service by force, terrorism, and tank nozzles.
Last November, Israeli forces imposed a comprehensive siege and direct targeting of Al-Shifa and Indonesian hospitals, which led to massacres against patients, war-wounded, medical staff, and displaced people.
Obstructing medical convoys
For his part, Director-General of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, expressed his concern about the continuation of prolonged inspections of medical convoys in the Gaza Strip and the detention of health workers in the Strip after this led to the death of a patient in critical condition.
He wrote on the “X” platform that a mission led by the organization to Al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza was stopped twice on Saturday at the Wadi Gaza checkpoint run by the Israel Defense Forces while it was on its way to northern Gaza.
The mission transported 19 patients in critical condition and provided medical supplies to treat injuries and perform surgical operations to meet the needs of 1,500 patients in Al-Ahli Hospital, which was severely damaged due to the Israeli aggression.
The World Health Organization said that two employees of the Palestinian Red Crescent Society were detained for more than an hour on their way to the hospital.
She added in a statement, “WHO staff witnessed one of them being forced to his knees at gunpoint and then taken out of sight, where he was reportedly harassed, beaten, stripped, and searched.”
She added that when the convoy entered the Gaza Strip, bullets were fired at the aid truck carrying medical supplies and one of the ambulances.
Tedros said that on the way back of the convoy, some health workers were detained and interrogated for several hours, and because of the obstruction that occurred, one of the patients died on the way due to the seriousness of his wounds and the delay in receiving treatment.
The organization said that on November 18, 6 people were arrested during a mission led by the World Health Organization that aimed to transfer patients from Al-Shifa Hospital, and 4 of them are still in detention.
The organization indicated that only 11 hospitals are still partially operating in the Gaza Strip, one in the north and 10 in the south.