As part of a systematic targeting of the health system in Gaza, the Israeli occupation forces arrested Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, Director of Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahia, north of the Strip, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.
Dr. Abu Safiya was beaten and tortured in front of medical staff and patients during a fierce military operation on the hospital, leaving widespread destruction.
On Friday, the IOF stormed Kamal Adwan Hospital under Israeli heavy artillery and air strikes, causing fires in vital departments, including operating rooms, the medical laboratory, and the emergency department, killing 50 people, including 5 medical staff.
More than 350 people, including patients and medical staff, were forced to evacuate the building at gunpoint, and 180 of them were detained, including Dr. Hussam Abu Safia, who was beaten and tortured before being transferred to an unknown location.
After the destruction of Kamal Adwan Hospital, patients were forced to move to the Indonesian Hospital, which was also significantly damaged due to previous Israeli bombings.
The Ministry of Health stated that patients are living in inhumane conditions, amid lack of basic services such as electricity, which threaten their lives.
This bombing is part of a systematic and deliberate targeting of hospitals, as 34 hospitals and health facilities have been destroyed or became out of service since the start of the last Israeli aggression on Gaza.
These attacks demonstrate a systematic policy aimed at depriving the population of health care, especially in light of the stifling blockade imposed on the Strip for years.
The World Health Organization expressed its “deep concern” over the attack on Kamal Adwan Hospital, stressing that the destruction of the hospital represents an “unprecedented health and humanitarian disaster” in northern Gaza.
The international community has not taken any action to stop the violations on the remainder of the health sector in Gaza, despite repeated calls from the Palestinian Ministry of Health and human rights organisations to save the remainder of the health system.
The attack on Kamal Adwan Hospital constitutes a clear violation of international humanitarian law, which guarantees the protection of health facilities and medical personnel during conflicts, and is classified as a war crime that requires immediate accountability for its perpetrators before international courts.
The continued international silence in the face of these crimes constitutes complicity with the occupation in destroying the health system and depriving Palestinians of their basic rights, which requires the international community, including the United Nations and the International Criminal Court, to take urgent action to stop these crimes and hold their perpetrators accountable.
It is worth noting that since October 7, 2023; The Israeli occupation has been waging an ongoing war of extermination on the Gaza Strip, which has resulted in the death and injury of more than 153,000 Palestinians, most of whom are women and children, in addition to 11,000 missing, while tens of thousands of Palestinians in the northern Gaza Strip are living in catastrophic conditions, with the spread of famine and the collapse of all the necessities of life.
