Written by Nidal Al Mughrabi
CAIRO (Reuters) – Israeli forces withdrew on Saturday, a day after raiding a hospital complex in northern Gaza, and the Palestinian enclave’s health ministry said troops had detained dozens of male medical staff and some patients. did.
Palestinian state news agency WAFA said late Saturday that at least 30 people were killed in Israeli military attacks on several houses in Beit Lahiya, northern Gaza. There was no immediate comment from the Israeli side and no official confirmation from the Health Ministry of the death toll.
Health authorities said Friday that Israeli forces attacked Kamal Adwan Hospital, one of three struggling medical facilities in the region.
Footage distributed by the Health Ministry, which Reuters could not immediately see, showed some buildings damaged after Israeli forces withdrew.
Medics said at least 44 of the 70-member team at the facility had been taken into military custody. Later, the military announced that it had released 14 people, including the hospital director.
An Israeli military spokesperson declined to comment on the hospital report. The Israeli military said on Friday that it conducted an operation around the hospital based on information “regarding the presence of terrorists and terrorist infrastructure.”
At least two children died in the intensive care unit after Israeli military fire attacked the unit’s generator and oxygen station, medical officials said on Friday.
Medical staff refused Israeli military orders to evacuate the hospital or leave patients alone. Before the military raid, doctors said at least 600 people, including patients and their attendants, were hospitalized.
“The safety and lives of patients stranded inside Kamal Adwan Hospital without medical staff and necessary medicines are now at risk,” said Marwan Alhams from the Ministry of Health.
The Gaza Ministry added that Israeli military attacks on the towns of Jabalia, Beit Hanoun and Beit Rahiya in northern Gaza have so far killed around 800 people in three weeks of attacks.
Israel has announced that it has returned troops to northern Gaza in an effort to eradicate Hamas fighters who have regrouped there. The Israeli military announced on Friday that three soldiers were killed in fighting in the northern Gaza Strip.
“Very tragic”
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) described the situation in northern Gaza as “extremely dire” and said safe passage must be guaranteed for those seeking refuge.
“Continued evacuation orders and continued restrictions on the introduction of essential goods place civilians remaining in northern Gaza in dire conditions,” the ICRC said in a statement on Saturday.
“Hospitals have been told to evacuate and there may be a shortage of medical services for the many remaining civilians…” it added.
Bassem Naim, a senior Hamas official, said Israel’s invasion of northern Gaza and the attack on Kamal Adwan hospital were violations of international humanitarian law and could not have been committed without the “protection of Western countries.”
Israel regularly accuses Hamas of exploiting civilians and property, including hospitals and mosques, for military purposes. Hamas denies the accusations.
The Israeli military announced on Saturday that it had expanded al-Mawasi, a designated humanitarian zone in the southern Gaza Strip, where the military had previously directed Palestinians to go if they were forced to evacuate their homes.
Separately on Saturday, Israeli forces killed a Hamas member during a raid in the city of Tulkarm in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, Israeli security forces said in a statement. The man was reportedly planning an impending attack.
Hamas said the man, identified as Islam Jamil Awda, died in “a clash with occupation forces who besieged his home in the Tulkarm camp for hours.”
Since the start of the Hamas-Israel war in Gaza, there has been a surge in violence across the West Bank. Clashes with Israeli forces have left hundreds of Palestinians dead, including armed fighters, stone-throwing youths, and civilian bystanders.
Dozens of Israelis have also been killed in Palestinian street attacks over the past year.
Hamas-led fighters attacked Israel on October 7, 2023, killing about 1,200 people and taking about 250 hostages in Gaza, according to Israeli tallies.
The death toll from Israel’s retaliatory operations in Gaza approaches 43,000, leaving the densely populated enclave in ruins.
(Reporting and writing by Nidal Al Mughrabi; Additional reporting by Ali Sawafta and Ramallah; Editing by Gareth Jones)
