UN official says Israeli attacks ‘vaporised’ bodies of Palestinians in Gaza
Georgios Petropoulos, who heads OCHA in Gaza, has described witnessing the aftermath of an Israeli attack that “vaporised” the bodies of victims.
In remarks reported by Israel’s Haaretz newspaper, Petropoulos said the site of the attack in al-Mawasi looked like Nagasaki, the Japanese city where US forces dropped an atomic bomb in 1945.
“They counted the bodies, but there are people who simply vaporised,” Petropoulos said. “Ten or twenty people who were known to be in the tents have simply vanished. “I was at the hospital after the bombing, it looked like a slaughterhouse, blood everywhere.”
Haaretz did not specify the exact attack that Petropoulos was referring to. But the article noted there have been at least eight attacks on al-Mawasi, a sandy area that Israel has designated as a “safe zone”, that killed scores in November, and another on December 4 that destroyed 21 tents and killed at least 23 people.
Our correspondents and medical staff in Gaza have also previously reported that Israeli bombs were causing the bodies of victims to vaporise.
In one Israeli attack on al-Mawasi in September, at least 22 people were reported missing, assumed to have been incinerated by the intensity of the blast. Al Jazeera’s verification agency Sanad concluded that 2,000-pound (907kg) US-made MK-84 bombs may have been used in the attack.
Israeli attack sparks fire at Kamal Adwan Hospital
Our colleagues at Al Jazeera Arabic are reporting that an Israeli attack has sparked a fire in the hospital’s Intensive Care Unit (ICU). The facility in besieged northern Gaza has come under repeated attack by Israeli forces in recent weeks.
Hussam Abu Safia, the hospital’s director, says there are some 50 wounded people at the facility, including several people needing intensive care. Earlier in the week, Abu Safia said Israeli snipers had opened fire on the ICU.
“It’s the only department that provides ICU services in the northern Gaza Strip. Fortunately, this gunshot did not hit anyone but there have been a number of other gunshots through the windows facing Kamal Adwan Hospital,” he said.
Casualties as Israeli forces bomb a house near Kamal Adwan Hospital
Our colleagues at Al Jazeera Arabic are reporting that there have been several casualties after Israeli forces bombed the al-Sisi family home in northern Beit Lahiya. The building is located near the Kamal Adwan Hospital, where another Israeli attack sparked a fire.
AJA is also reporting the sound of intense gunfire as well as that of quadcopter drones hovering around the medical facility.
Fire at Kamal Adwan Hospital put out
Hussam Abu Safia, the director of the Kamal Adwan Hospital, says the fire that broke out at the medical facility has been extinguished manually. Speaking in a video, verified by Al Jazeera’s Sanad agency, Abu Safia said staff have managed to evacuate the patients on ventilators.
Israeli attack puts Kamal Adwan ICU out of service
Israel’s ground operations are ongoing in the north of the Strip, while air strikes are also continuing across the territory.
In the north, Israeli forces are intensifying attacks on the vicinity of the Kamal Adwan Hospital, flattening a number of residential buildings in the area. We’ve also heard from Dr Hussam Abu Safia, the director of the hospital, who confirmed that the Intensive Care Unit has come under attack.
There was a huge fire at the ICU that put the unit out of service. The staff there were forced to extinguish the fire using very primitive methods, including using blankets. They also had to transfer patients there, including children, to another ward to continue providing them with essential medical treatment.
The doctor also emphasised just how drastic the situation there is, noting that the hospital building has sustained a lot of damage from the attack that had taken place earlier. He is calling on the international community to provide urgent protection for the patients and staff there.
We are also getting reports from al-Awda Hospital that two medical staff there were wounded after the Israeli military detonated robots laden with explosives in the vicinity of the hospital. Shrapnel from the attack wounded those staff.
The situation in the north is grim, with these barely functional hospitals coming under relentless attacks.
International medical team denied deployment at Kamal Adwan Hospital: WHO
The World Health Organization (WHO) says an international medical team urgently needed at Kamal Adwan Hospital has not been allowed to deploy as Israel continues its siege in northern Gaza.
Hanan Balkhy, WHO regional director for the Eastern Mediterranean, also condemned the repeated attacks on the medical facility. “The fear endured by the hospital’s staff and patients in recent days is indescribable – and unacceptable,” she wrote on X.
The representative for the UN health agency said the hospital was without surgical or maternal care capacity.
WHO was instead able to deliver supplies to al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, Balkhy said.
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