Israeli forces leave trail of destruction in north Gaza’s last functioning hospital
Israeli forces have now withdrawn from Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza, leaving a trail of destruction in the last functioning medical facility in the area.
Our colleagues on the ground say that male medical staff were detained, leaving patients with no one to treat them.
“This is the 14th time the hospital comes under Israeli fire,” hospital spokesperson Hisham Sakani told Al Jazeera. “Our doctors are now in Israeli detention, their families were killed.”
Doctors say the attack also destroyed the oxygen station of the hospital, leading to the deaths of two babies in the ICU.
“It is a catastrophic situation as patients and the wounded are left on the floor without any medical attention. We are facing grave dangers and here I am once again sending an SOS to the whole world. We pray to God almighty our plight comes to an end and Israeli massacres ceased.
“The entire population north of Gaza Strip are now without any medical service after all the hospitals have been destroyed and forced out of operation.”
Western inaction slammed after Israeli raid on north Gaza’s hospital
An emergency medicine doctor who has volunteered extensively in hospitals across Gaza and Lebanon has condemned what he calls “the lack of any reaction” from most Western governments following the recent Israeli raid on Kamal Adwan Hospital.
“How can they be watching these horrible attacks on healthcare workers?” Mads Gilbert told Al Jazeera, citing a recent UN report that has found Israel guilty of perpetrating a “concerted policy” to destroy Gaza’s healthcare system.
“We need an additional factor to understand why this has been allowed to go on, and that is actually that the Palestinian people are defined as under-humans.
“We would never have allowed this to happen, for example, in Ukraine. Almost 250,000 people in the northern part of Gaza have now no healthcare, and that in itself is part of the genocide.”
A picture shows the damage to an ambulance at the Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahiya the northern Gaza Strip on October 26
Palestinians killed in Israeli attack in Khan Younis
Israeli air strikes in Khan Younis resulted in the killing of many Palestinians, local sources told Wafa news agency. The report said that Israeli forces targeted al-Shahayda area north of the town of Abassan al-Kabira, resulting in several casualties among civilians.
Medical sources have told Al Jazeera that 26 people have been killed in Israeli raids on the Gaza Strip since this morning.
Situation in northern Gaza ‘extremely dire’
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has described the situation in northern Gaza as “extremely dire” and said people wishing to evacuate must be assured safe passage.
“Ongoing evacuation orders, and continued restriction on introduction of essential supplies, leaves the remaining civilian population in north Gaza in horrific circumstances,” the ICRC said in a statement.
“Hospitals are being told to evacuate, leaving a potential vacuum of medical services for the many civilians who remain, and are critically under-resourced while new patients continue to arrive.”
Israel carrying out violations with ‘protection of Western countries’
Senior Hamas official Basem Naim said Israel’s incursions in northern Gaza and storming Kamal Adwan Hospital were a violation of international humanitarian law that it could not have committed without “the protection of Western countries”.
Israeli forces stormed Kamal Adwan Hospital on Friday, one of three medical facilities struggling to operate in the area, and also stationed forces outside it. They withdrew a day later, and the besieged enclave’s Health Ministry said the troops had detained dozens of male medical staffers and some of the wounded patients.
Medics said at least 44 of the facility’s 70-member team of the hospital had been detained by the army. They later said the army had released 14 of them, including the hospital’s director.
They also said at least two children died inside the ICU after Israeli fire hit the generators and oxygen station in the facility. Three nurses were injured during the raid and three ambulance vehicles were destroyed, they added.
