Contact has been lost with the last functioning hospital in the northern Gaza Strip. The Hamas government's Health Ministry said hundreds of people were arrested at Kamal Adwan Hospital in the town of Jabalia, the epicenter of the Israeli army's offensive in the northern Gaza Strip. “Israeli forces stormed Kamal Adwan Hospital and are inside,” the ministry said in a statement.
The Israeli army “is detaining hundreds of patients, medical staff and displaced people from surrounding areas who had taken refuge in the hospital because of the incessant bombardments,” added the Hamas government's health ministry.
The Israeli army, for its part, indicated in a statement that it continued its operations in the area of the hospital, with the security services, “on the basis of intelligence information concerning the presence of terrorists and their infrastructure in the region”.
Hamas deplores the death of at least 32 people
At least 12 people were killed Friday by Israeli drone strikes on a group waiting for humanitarian aid in the northern Gaza Strip, the Gaza Civil Defense announced. “Civil Defense recovered 12 dead and several injured after Israeli drone strikes targeting a vehicle and a group of citizens waiting for help north of the Al-Shati refugee camp in the west of the city of Gaza,” the organization’s spokesperson, Mahmoud Bassal, told AFP.
He said at least six other people died in other strikes on the city on Friday. This service had previously reported at least twenty people killed in Khan Younes (south) by Israeli strikes. The Israeli army, contacted by AFP, did not immediately comment.
Death of Israeli soldiers
Gaza Civil Defense also indicated that the army, which had surrounded the establishment for several days, had entered the compound. “More than 150 patients and staff, including doctors and nurses, are under army siege inside Kamal Adwan,” said the organization’s spokesperson Mahmoud Bassal.
The Israeli army announced the death of three soldiers killed in fighting in the northern Gaza Strip. The IDF said in a statement that the soldiers, aged around 20 and belonging to the same battalion of an Armored Brigade, had “fallen in combat in the north of the Gaza Strip”, bringing the number of soldiers to 361. soldiers killed since the launch of the military ground operation against the Palestinian Islamist movement on October 27, 2023.
Loss of contact with hospital staff
The head of the World Health Organization said he lost contact with hospital staff on Friday. “Since reports this morning of a raid on Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza, we have lost contact with the staff there. This development is deeply worrying given the number of patients being treated and people seeking shelter there,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on X.
Patient transfer
The Israeli military body overseeing civil affairs in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (Cogat), for its part, indicated that it had authorized the transfer of around fifty people, 23 patients and 26 accompanying people, from Kamal Adwan hospital to other establishments in the Gaza Strip. The transfer, organized in coordination with the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF, was carried out in five ambulances and four UN vehicles, she said.
She stressed having authorized the supply of blood bags, medical equipment and fuel to the hospital which has suffered from shortages since the start of the war on October 7, 2023. The situation has further deteriorated since the launch of a ground offensive in northern Gaza on October 6, which left more than 770 dead according to Civil Defense.
UN condemnation
The northern Gaza Strip is experiencing its “darkest hours”, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said on Friday, warning that Israel's actions could amount to “atrocity crimes”. “. “The situation is getting worse day by day in unimaginable ways. The Israeli government's policies and practices in northern Gaza risk emptying the area of all Palestinians. We are facing what may amount to atrocity crimes, including possible crimes against humanity,” Volker Turk said in a statement. He reports “more than 150,000 dead, injured or missing in Gaza” since the start of the war between Hamas and Israel more than a year ago.
“Northern Gaza is being bombed non-stop,” he expressed alarm, calling on the international community to react, worried about the fact that “the Israeli army has ordered the displacement of hundreds of thousands of people, with no guarantee of return.” “. He highlighted the “extremely limited access” to northern Gaza, where “virtually no aid has been able to reach the area for weeks, with illegal restrictions continuing” on the part of Israel. He also attacked Palestinian armed groups who operate from camps and other places hosting civilians, putting them in danger, “which is totally unacceptable”.
The area is the scene of heavy fighting and bombing between the army and Hamas fighters who it says are regrouping. The army first surrounded Jabalia and called on the population to evacuate to the south, setting up crossing points to control residents. The operation was then expanded to an area that includes the town of Beit Lahia, in the north, and its surroundings.
