Rights group slams Israeli attacks on Kamal Adwan
The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) says that attacks on the hospital show that “genocide persists” in Gaza.
“The hospital has been targeted over 20 times in recent days by drone attacks, artillery shelling, and gunfire, causing severe damage, including the burning of [the] ICU, and injuring 20 individuals, including patients and medical staff,” PCHR said in a statement.
The group called for “immediate action to protect patients and medical personnel and to ensure the ongoing operation of the hospital in an area where thousands of residents and [displaced people] face bombardment, starvation, and deprivation of healthcare and humanitarian services”.
It also noted that the attack on the hospital was part of Israel’s “most ferocious” military offensive in northern Gaza since October 5, where “entire neighbourhoods have been wiped out” and “hundreds detained”.
Genocide Persists: Israeli Occupation Forces Target Kamal Adwan Hospital Again and Continue Bombing Homes and Sheltershttps://t.co/IzsVuZhLFl
— Palestinian Centre for Human Rights - PCHR (@pchrgaza) December 23, 2024
Israel’s attacks on Kamal Adwan Hospital
Israeli forces have been attacking the medical facility on a near-daily basis since launching their siege on northern Gaza on October 6.
Here are some of the worst attacks:
- December 23: Israeli forces detonated explosives near Kamal Adwan, wounding at least 20 patients and medical staff.
- December 12: Israeli forces killed Dr Saeed Judeh, the last orthopaedic doctor in North Gaza, while he was en route from Kamal Adwan to the nearby al-Awda Hospital. On the same day, a nurse was killed while travelling to Kamal Adwan.
- December 3-7: Israeli bombing and shelling killed seven people, including four medics and a 16-year-old boy who was in a wheelchair. The hospital’s oxygen supplies and water and fuel tanks were also damaged.
- November 29: Israeli drone killed Dr Ahmed Al-Kahlout, the director of the hospital’s ICU, as he passed through the gate of the facility.
- November 23: Israeli attacks wounded Dr Hossam Abu Safia, the hospital’s director.
- November 21: Israeli attacks wounded four medical staff and two patient companions at Kamal Adwan. The hospital’s electricity generator, and its oxygen and water supply networks, were also disrupted.
- November 13: Six Palestinians were killed and others wounded in an Israeli attack on the hospital’s gate.
- November 3: An Israeli attack hit the third floor of the hospital, wounding six hospitalised children and damaging its water tanks.
- October 25-26: Israeli forces raided Kamal Adwan and detained dozens of people. Of the hospital’s 70-member team, 44 male staff were detained, including an orthopaedic surgeon with MSF. Three nurses and a cleaner were wounded during the raid.
Israeli forces attack al-Awda Hospital in northern Gaza
Our colleagues at Al Jazeera Arabic are reporting Israeli artillery attacks on the third floor of the hospital, located in the besieged Jabalia refugee camp.
They also say Israeli forces are forcing wounded and sick people to leave the Indonesian Hospital in nearby Beit Lahiya. The reports come as Israeli forces continue to attack the Kamal Adwan Hospital, which is also in Beit Lahiya.
Video shows robots planting explosives near Kamal Adwan Hospital
Many people inside Kamal Adwan Hospital or in its vicinity have been using their phones to document the concerning events.
One video presented to us shows robots in the vicinity of the hospital leaving behind an explosive device. We were told by the person who filmed that video that there were at least four other robots in the vicinity of the hospital.
When we look at the sheer level of destruction, it’s consistent with the footage presented to us, with the fact that the Israeli military has been using these devices to blow up many of the buildings in the vicinity of the hospital.
The witness told us that much of the area around the hospital has been cleared from buildings, the infrastructure destroyed and severely damaged, impeding movement in and out of the hospital.
Many of the essential departments inside the hospital have been rendered nonoperational, because everyone is trying to stay alive and protected from all the shrapnel and bullets shot by the quadcopters or fired by the military that are piercing through the walls, injuring many of the medical staff members and patients inside.
Another video shows everyone in one corridor of the hospital, in the middle of the building, away from the windows and balconies and the rooms that are looking over the streets where these explosive devices are planted.
