The Hamas government’s Health Ministry in Gaza and local Civil Defense said Saturday that Israel was detaining the director of a key hospital in the north of the Palestinian territory ravaged by more than a year of war.
“The (Israeli) occupying forces took dozens of medical staff from Kamal Adwan Hospital, including Dr. Hossam Abou Safiya, to a detention center for interrogation,” the ministry said in a statement.
“By arresting the director of the Kamal Adwan hospital, dozens of medical and technical staff, as well as the director of Civil Defense in the north, the occupation has completely destroyed the medical, humanitarian and relief framework in the north of Gaza,” Civil Defense spokesperson Mahmoud Bassal told AFP.
Contacted by AFP, the Israeli army did not immediately comment.
The World Health Organization (WHO) declared Friday that Kamal Adwan, until now the last major operational hospital in northern Gaza, was “out of service” after an Israeli raid on Hamas fighters near the facility.
The Israeli army announced that it had launched an operation against Hamas fighters near this hospital, which plays a crucial role in a Gaza Strip with bloodless health services after more than 14 months of war.
In a press release on Friday, she described the establishment as a “stronghold of terrorist organizations (…) used as a hiding place by terrorists”, which Hamas “categorically” denies.
