Israeli troops stormed and set fire to one of the last hospitals operating in the northernmost part of Gaza on Friday, forcing many of the staff and patients out of the facility, the territory’s health ministry said.
The Kamal Adwan Hospital has been hit multiple times over the past three months by Israeli troops, according to staff.
Israel says it is waging an offensive against Hamas fighters in surrounding neighborhoods.
Israel’s military said it was conducting operations against Hamas infrastructure and fighters in the area of the hospital, without providing details.
It repeated claims that Hamas fighters were operating inside Kamal Adwan , though it provided no evidence. Hospital officials have denied the accusations.
The Health Ministry said troops forced medical personnel and patients to assemble in the hospital yard and remove their clothes amid the winter temperatures.
They were led out of the hospital, some to an unknown location, while some patients were sent to the nearby Indonesian hospital, which was knocked out of operation after an Israeli raid earlier this week.
The ministry said troops set fires in several parts of Kamal Adwan, including the hospital’s lab and surgery department.
It said 25 patients and 60 health workers remained in the hospital out of 75 patients and 180 staff who had been there.
The ministry’s account could not be independently confirmed, and attempts to contact hospital staff were unsuccessful.
Israel’s military said there was only a small fire in an empty hospital building, and was unaware of any Israeli gunfire causing the blaze.
Since October, Israel’s offensive has virtually sealed off the north Gaza areas of Jabaliya, Beit Hanoun and Beit Lahiya and levelled large parts of the districts.
Last week, the medical aid group Doctors Without Borders accused Israel of systematically attacking Gaza’s healthcare system and restricting essential humanitarian assistance.
As Israeli and Palestinian negotiators in Doha try to reach a ceasefire agreement, the UN has reported that infants and newborns are dying of exposure in Gaza.
Edouard Beigbeder, UNICEF Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa, reported in a statement on Friday that, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, four newborns and infants died in recent days from hypothermia.
“These preventable deaths lay bare the desperate and deteriorating conditions facing families and children across Gaza,” said Mr. Beigbeder.
“With temperatures expected to drop further in the coming days, it is tragically foreseeable that more children’s lives will be lost to the inhumane conditions they are enduring”.
A displaced Palestinian boy stands in front of his tent during the cold weather amid the Israel-Hamas conflict in Deir Al-Balah, Gaza Strip, on December 27 2024. (Photo: Majdi Fathi/NurPhoto via Getty Images)Meanwhile Israel and Yemen’s Houthi rebels continue their simmering conflict.
Early Saturday morning Israel says it downed another ballistic missile fired from Yemen.
Israel says about 400 missiles and drones have been launched at the country by Yemen since the start of the war in Gaza that started in October 2023.
The Houthis say the attacks are an act of solidarity with the Palestinian people.
On Thursday Israel attacked Sanaa International Airport in Yemen with one of the air-launched missiles landing close to where World Health Organisation Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus was waiting to board a flight.
“I was not sure actually I could survive because it was so close, a few meters from where we were,” Mr.Ghebreyesus told Reuters. “A slight deviation could have resulted in a direct hit.”
Ghebreyesus said Friday on X that a UN colleague wounded in the strike underwent surgery and was in stable condition, but has not yet been evacuated from Yemen.
The international airport in Yemen’s capital Sanaa and the Red Sea port of Hodeida resumed operations Friday, a day after being struck by Israeli missiles, Yemeni officials said.
The strikes Thursday afternoon at the airport and the Hodeida seaport killed six people and wounded 40 others, according to the Health Ministry.
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