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Israelthe Russian army detained the director of one of the last functioning hospitals in the north GazaPalestinian medical officials said.
Gaza’s health ministry said on Saturday that Israeli forces arrested Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, director of Kamal Adwan Hospital, after soldiers stormed the hospital, forcing many staff and patients out.
The Israeli army did not comment on the fate of dr. Abu Safiya. On Friday, he denied claims he had entered or set fire to the compound and said he was conducting operations against Hamas infrastructure and militants in the area and had ordered people out of the hospital.
It repeated claims that Hamas militants were operating inside Kamal Adwan Hospital, but did not provide evidence. Hospital officials denied this.
Kamal Adwan Hospital has been hit several times in the past three months by Israeli troops who are conducting an offensive against Hamas fighters in the surrounding neighborhoods.
The ministry said five medical staff were killed in an attack on the hospital earlier this week.
Israel’s nearly 15-month campaign of bombings and offensives has devastated Gaza’s health sector. More than 45,400 died in the war Palestiniansmore than half of the women and children, and injured more than 108,000 others, according to the Ministry of Health. Its numbers do not differentiate between civilians and militants.
Israel vowed to destroy Hamas after an attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, in which they killed around 1,200 people and kidnapped around 250 people. About 100 Israelis remain trapped in Gaza, and about a third are believed to be dead.
The World Health Organization (WHO) said the raid on Kamal Adwan had “inactivated” the last major health facility in northern Gaza after increasing restrictions on access, adding: “This horror must end and health care must be protected.”
Dr. Abu Safiya was detained on Friday along with dozens of other staff from the hospital and taken to an interrogation center, the ministry said.
MedGlobal, a humanitarian organization where dr. Abu Safiya, said she was seriously worried about the chief physician. It said the incident followed the jailing of five staff in October, calling it an “alarming and egregious pattern of targeting medical staff and premises”.
Since October, the Israeli offensive has virtually sealed off the northern Gaza areas of Jabaliya, Beit Hanoun and Beit Lahiya and flattened large parts. Tens of thousands of Palestinians have been driven out, but thousands are believed to remain in the area where Kamal Adwan and two other hospitals are located.
Israel continued its attacks across Gaza on Saturday. According to witnesses, the overnight strike killed at least nine people in Maghazi, including women and children.
Gaza’s health ministry said 48 people had been killed in the past 24 hours by Israeli fire.
Israel said its troops also began operating in the northern town of Beit Hanoun, following intelligence that Hamas fighters and infrastructure were in the area.
The strikes also continued against Israel. Early Saturday, air raid sirens woke the Israelis again, and the military said it had intercepted a missile fired by Yemen’s Houthis.
Associated Press