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An Israeli military attack on a hospital in Gaza has rendered the last health facility in the besieged northern district inoperable, exacerbating the region’s worsening humanitarian crisis, according to the ministry. of UN life.
The attack on Kamal Adwan Hospital came as Israel continued its offensive in northern Gaza that began in October and has killed hundreds of people and forced tens of thousands to flee.
The Israeli army said it was fighting to prevent Hamas from regrouping in northern Gaza, where most of the population had to flee during Israel’s 14-month offensive against the Palestinian militant group.
The World Health Organization said that initial reports indicated that important departments of the medical center were badly burned and destroyed during Friday’s attack.
It said that 60 health workers and 25 patients in critical condition, including those on ventilators, remained in the hospital, while others were forced to flee to another damaged hospital.
“The systematic elimination of the health system in Gaza is a death sentence for the tens of thousands of Palestinians who need health care,” the WHO said in a statement on Friday. “This fear must end and health care must be protected.”
The Palestinian health ministry said that Kamal Adwan’s operating and surgical departments, laboratory, care, ambulance centers and warehouses were “completely burnt”.
“The army forcibly transfers the sick and wounded, with guns . . . to an Indonesian hospital, which needs medical equipment, water, medicine and even electricity and generators,” it said in a statement. “There are patients who are threatened with death at any time because of the difficult conditions.”
The Israeli army said it had launched an operation “in the area” of Kamal Adwan following intelligence that Hamas militants were using the hospital.
It also said its forces were “carrying out targeted operations in the area while minimizing the risk to unaffected civilians, patients and medical staff”. It said that its forces are not responsible for the hospital fire.
Hamas has denied that its fighters use the hospital for military operations.
United Nations agencies and humanitarian groups have repeatedly criticized Israel for attacking medical facilities in Gaza since it launched its offensive against Hamas after the Palestinian group’s October 7 attack. 2023 killed 1,200 people.
The WHO said it had confirmed 516 attacks on health facilities and medical transport in Gaza, adding that more than 90 percent of the strip’s medical facilities had been damaged or destroyed.
Israel’s offensive in northern Gaza continues as mediators push for an agreement to end the war and secure the release of the remaining Israeli prisoners held in the strip before US president-elect Donald Trump. return to the White House next month.
The operation reduced Jabalia, which before the war was the largest refugee camp in Gaza and home to more than 100,000 people, to destruction, and extended to nearby Beit Lahia where the Kamal Adwan Hospital is is there.
On Saturday, the Israeli army said its forces had begun operations in the Beit Hanoun district.
The Israeli offensive has killed more than 45,000 people, according to Palestinian health officials, and forced as many as 2.3 million people from their homes.
