‘Sudden and Brutal’ – Kamal Adwan Hospital under Heavy Bombardment

December 22, 2024 News
Israeli occupation forces launched an unprecedented, unwarranted attack on the Kamal Adwan Hospital, in northern Gaza. (Photo: via QNN)

By Palestine Chronicle Staff  

“Without any warning, we are now being directly bombed, the intensive care unit once again is targeted”.

The Israeli army has intensified its attack on the Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza, with various departments, including the neonatal unit and the intensive care unit, coming under heavy shelling and direct sniper fire.

“Without any warning, we are now being directly bombed, the intensive care unit once again is targeted, the neonatal unit, the maternity ward, and all other hospital departments are being bombarded by the occupation forces,” said Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, the hospital’s director, in a video message late on Saturday night.

The army was using “all kinds of weapons, snipers, tanks and quadcopter drones,” he stated.

Patients Shelting in Corridors

The director said that the “sudden and brutal attack with no warning” comes as they received information that the hospital “will be evacuated within the coming hours.”

“This is a disaster, we are currently the only hospital still providing humanitarian services in northern Gaza,” he warned, adding that evacuating meant “displacing 66 patients, removing all hospital equipment, and evacuating all medical staff.”

Video footage captured critically ill patients in the ICU and neonatal ward, as well as patients seen sheltering in the hospital corridors amid heavy bombardment.

“For over an hour now, shells have been falling on us from every direction,” said Dr. Abu Safiya.

“We hold the world responsible for what is happening, we hold the world accountable for ignoring our pleas as we have been calling on them for more than 70 days to protect this healthcare system but unfortunately, no one is responding,” he stated.

‘Impossible to Evacuate’

Asked where patients would be evacuated to, if forced, Dr. Abu Safiya said the Indonesian Hospital would most likely “serve as an alternative,” although “this is not an easy matter.”

He explained that besides the problem with transporting patients there, the “Indonesian Hospital currently has non-functional generators, and its oxygen station is also out of service. I believe it will take a very long time to restore services.”

In a subsequent video, Dr. Abu Safiya said the hospital had been advised to evacuate to the Indonesian Hospital.

“This is impossible for us to evacuate the wounded who are hospitalized and injured,” he explained. “We do not even have a single ambulance, we cannot transport these people by hand.”

The doctor said there are also supplies that have to be transferred to the Indonesian Hospital “so that it can provide secure service to these injured and wounded.”

He said the hospital “cannot simply be terminated within one hour, or within hours. We would need days assuming we are able to do so.”

“We have previously called on the international community to urgently intervene to protect the healthcare system,” Dr. Abu Safiya stated, “We continue to call on the world to take immediate action to protect the healthcare system from this brutal and deadly assault on us, on the staff, and on the system itself.”

‘Unprecedented Attack’ – Dr Muneer Alboursh

In an interview with Al-Jazeera Arabic, the Director-General of Gaza’s Health Ministry, Dr. Muneer Alboursh, said the hospital was “being subjected to an unprecedented attack.”

“The occupation has practiced a suffocating policy on the hospital since the beginning of this war and its pace has increased recently, preventing fuel entry, the entry of medicine and medical supplies,” he stated.

 

He explained that on Saturday, a World Health Organization delegation visited the hospital and that the hospital “was targeted while they were inside.”

“Also some robots exploded while they were inside, scattering shrapnel on the visiting delegation,” he added.

WHO Delegation Stopped

The delegation, which left with injured patients, including a man with an amputated leg, was later stopped at the Salah el-Din checkpoint by occupation forces.

They forced the amputee patient out of the ambulance and “flipped the hospital bed” on which he was laying, causing “this person to fall to the ground,” he explained , adding that the occupation forces then detained the patient, and the ambulance ordered to leave.

“There is a real and clear violation, and there are war crimes being committed in Kamal Adwan Hospital,” Dr. Alboursh said.

Yet, he added, “the world is reacting with indifference.”

‘Last Landmark of Life’

In an urgent appeal, Al-Jazeera journalist Hossam Shabbat posted on X:

“I am writing to you. A message to the world from North Gaza.

“Northern Gaza is being destroyed and the last landmark of life there (Kamal Adwan Hospital) is being subjected to heavy bombardment and its patients and medical staff are starving.”

He continued: “The occupation has destroyed all the necessities of life. There is no food, water, ambulance services, or civil defense, and the bombing has been ongoing for about 80 days. What is the world waiting for?”

WHO Appeal

The WHO’s Director-General, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said on X that the “reports of bombardment near Kamal Adwan Hospital and order to evacuate the hospital are deeply worrisome.”

“The hospital has been in the midst of fighting for too long and the lives of patients are at risk,” he said.

“We call for an immediate ceasefire in the vicinity of the hospital and to protect the patients and health workers,” said the WHO chief.

(The Palestine Chronicle)

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