By Nidal al-Mughrabi
CAIRO (Reuters) – Palestinian health officials said on Sunday that Israeli forces had shelled the Kamal Adwan Hospital in the northern Gaza town of Beit Lahiya, damaging electricity and oxygen pumps and disrupting urgent surgeries.
Hussam Abu Safiya, director of the hospital, one of only three barely operational on the northern edge of the enclave, said the facility was hit by around 100 tank shells and bombs, wounding several of the medical staff and patients.
“The situation is extremely dangerous. We have patients in the intensive care unit and others awaiting surgeries. Access to the operating rooms is only possible after restoring electricity and oxygen supply,” Abu Safiya said in a statement.
The hospital is treating 112 wounded people, including six in the intensive care unit, he said.
There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military about Abu Safiya’s account.
The health ministry of Hamas-run Gaza said a doctor was killed with his family in an Israeli airstrike near the Kamal Adwan Hospital on Saturday night.
Residents said the military blew up clusters of houses in the northern Gaza areas of Jabalia, Beit Lahiya and Beit Hanoun, where Israeli forces have operated since October.
Broad Israeli airstrikes killed at least six Palestinians in the central and southern Gaza Strip on Sunday, medics said.
Palestinians say Israel’s operations on the northern edge of the enclave are part of a plan to clear people out through forced evacuations and bombardments to create a buffer zone. The Israeli military denies this, saying it is fighting Hamas.
The war in Gaza has been raging for over 14 months, with much of the enclave laid to waste and more than 44,000 Palestinians killed, according to Gaza health authorities, as Israeli forces continue their drive to wipe out Hamas and rescue hostages taken by the militant group.
The deadliest Israeli-Palestinian violence in decades began when Hamas stormed into Israel on Oct.7, 2023, killing 1,200 people and taking more than 250 hostages back to Gaza.
(Reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi; Editing by William Mallard)
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