Gaza (Quds News Network)- Israeli occupation forces stormed Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahiya, northern Gaza, once again on Friday morning, forcing patients, the wounded, and medical staff to leave and arresting others.
What Happened?
Local sources reported that in the early hours of the morning, the Israeli forces surrounded the hospital with tanks from all sides under heavy cover from quadcopter machine guns.
Explosive devices had already been planted in the vicinity of the hospital. Four were set off near the northern gate, at the back entrance, causing damage to the compound and sparking fires in some of the buildings around it.
Israeli officers called on loudspeakers to the director of the hospital, Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, and for the injured and the patients to come out of the hospital within 15 minutes. This happened at about 7:15am [05:15 GMT].
The director of the Gaza Health Ministry confirmed that Israeli forces have stormed the northern Gaza hospital and forced out 350 people, including all the patients and staff who were there at that moment.
He said contact with the hospital was lost and the ambulances that went there did not return to deliver any news of what was going on.
The director added that the Israeli army burned down part of the hospital on Thursday.
Local sources also reported that fires broke out in parts of the Kamal Adwan Hospital following the evacuation order. According to the reports, the fires were located in the operating room, laboratory and emergency departments.
The Health Ministry said the Israeli forces forced medical staff, patients, and companions to remove their clothes in the extreme cold and take them out of the hospital to an unknown location.
In the meanwhile, the Israeli military announced it began a military operation at Kamal Adwan Hospital in the past few hours, “based on intelligence information about the presence of terrorists”.
Sources said the Israeli occupation forces have threatened Abu Safiya with arrest.
The Ministry of Health in Gaza reported:
Israeli occupation forces set fire to the operating rooms, surgery departments, laboratories, maintenance areas, and ambulance units at Kamal Adwan Hospital.
The fire began spreading to all buildings of Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza.
The Israeli army forced patients to leave the hospital at gunpoint and directed them to the Indonesian Hospital, which lacked all medical supplies.
Israeli occupation forces continue their deliberate targeting of the remaining healthcare system in northern Gaza, aiming for ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people.
Health sources confirmed that the Israeli occupation has besieged 75 patients and injured individuals at Kamal Adwan Hospital, who are enduring difficult conditions after being forcibly evacuated from the hospital by the occupation.
The sources also added that Israeli occupation forces cut off the oxygen supply to the patients they detained in the hospital’s yard, stressing that they are at risk of death.
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Repeated Attacks
The hospital was running out of any meaningful medical care, given the hardship and the fact the past two months have been very strict in terms of what can enter the northern part of Gaza as there is a complete siege, military siege, on the area with no humanitarian aid – medical supplies, water, or life-sustaining resources – available to people there because of the ongoing deliberate prevention by the Israeli military.
Survivor’s Eyewitness Details Israeli Assault on Kamal Adwan Hospital
An eyewitness has recounted harrowing details of the Israeli military assault on Kamal Adwan Hospital in Gaza. The assault on Kamal Adwan Hospital began at 2:30 a.m. with heavy artillery fire, drone strikes, and tank shelling. “We thought it was just another night like before,” the witness said. “But as dawn broke, we realized it was much worse.”
A tank stormed the hospital compound at sunrise. Soldiers inside demanded Dr. Hussam Abu Safiyah, the hospital’s director, evacuate everyone except the critically injured. Patients, staff, and displaced civilians fled the hospital under orders.
“The soldiers forced us onto Abu Al-Jidyan Street, following us with a tank,” the witness recounted. “They made us march until we reached Al-Farid Square, where they split us into men and women.”
Men were detained in two pits, while women were searched and some had their headscarves removed. “The soldiers beat us severely. It was unbearable,” the eyewitness added.
The forced march continued to Jabalia, with survivors navigating streets filled with rubble. Injured children wept and begged soldiers to let them rest. “The soldiers had no mercy. They made everyone walk, no matter their condition,” the witness said.
At Kamal Adwan Hospital, devastation was overwhelming. “Entire residential blocks were flattened,” the witness said. “We had to abandon personal belongings just to carry our children.”
In Fakhoura, the only structure left standing was Fakhoura School, which Israeli forces have turned into a detention site for displaced Palestinians.
The eyewitness also described the grim aftermath of an attack on Al-Safir residential building. “A young man tried to rescue a girl, who went there to look for her family. Soldiers shot him, and no one could reach any of them because of the Israeli targeting,” the witness said.
By morning, Israeli forces had burned sections of the hospital. Fires raged as patients and medical staff were forced out. Soldiers issued threats against Dr. Abu Safiya and conducted field interrogations at Fakhoura School.
“We call on the world to stop this war,” the eyewitness pleaded. “We are exhausted and can’t take any more.”
Israeli occupation forces kidnap QNN correspondent
Israeli occupation forces kidnapped QNN correspondent, Palestinian journalist Mohammad Al-Sharif, during their raid on Kamal Adwan Hospital in the northern Gaza Strip, according to local sources.
