IOF abduct patients en route to Gaza City

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
30 Dec 2024 11:48

The detained patients were part of a critical transfer meant to provide them with necessary care, but their journey was abruptly interrupted by the Israeli occupation forces.

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A man who was injured during Israeli bombardment on Beit Lahia, in the northern Gaza Strip, is placed on a cart on November 4, 2024. (AFP)

In a disturbing escalation, Israeli occupation forces abducted several patients while they were being transferred from the Indonesian Hospital in northern Gaza to al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City.

Medical sources confirmed that four of the 10 patients being moved were detained, with one in particularly dire condition. The detained patients were part of a critical transfer meant to provide them with necessary care, but their journey was abruptly interrupted by the Israeli occupation forces.

Among the abducted, one patient’s condition is reported to be critical, heightening fears for their well-being.

Kamal Adwan Hospital director detained by IOF in Gaza

The Health Ministry in Gaza warned on Saturday of a "countdown" until the deaths of patients and the injured that have been forcibly transferred to the Indonesian Hospital, where no water, power, food, or supplies are available, amid the detention of its medical staff as well, making it almost impossible for patients to get the medical treatment they need.

The ministry confirmed that patients at the Indonesian Hospital endured a harsh night, describing their situation as "extremely dire and deplorable." It noted that the occupation forces had previously destroyed the hospital’s infrastructure before forcibly evacuating patients there.

Consequently, the ministry urgently appealed to all relevant institutions and organizations to find a solution for patients at the hospital.

The ministry also reported that occupation forces have detained the director of Kamal Adwan Hospital, Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya. On Friday, the ministry stated that the occupation had taken dozens of medical staff, including Abu Safiya, to an interrogation center following the burning of the hospital.

In an alarming escalation, the IOF launched an airstrike in the vicinity of the hospital after storming its premises and forcibly displacing 300 patients. Many of these patients, who were dependent on life-saving medical devices, were left in the open, exposed to the harsh cold, further endangering their fragile health.

The director of field hospitals at the Ministry of Health in Gaza, Marwan al-Hams, told Al Mayadeen at the time that the IOF continued to besiege Kamal Adwan Hospital and burn it, calling the hospital "the last operating hospital in the northern Gaza Strip."

Additionally, al-Awda Hospital has been subjected to direct targeting by the occupation for over 80 days, while Gaza province faces a severe shortage of hospital bed capacity, as confirmed by the ministry yesterday.

Israeli military conceals fate of Gaza detainees: Haaretz

In a related context, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported that since the beginning of the war on Gaza, the fate of several Palestinians from the Strip has remained unknown, despite the fact that they were last seen in the custody of the Israeli military.

The newspaper pointed out that dozens of Palestinians from Gaza disappeared while in the custody of the Israeli military, which claims it does not know their whereabouts, but upon repeated checks, some were found to be under detention or had been killed.

It pointed out that Palestinians and human rights organizations have filed 27 petitions in recent months to determine the fate of the missing individuals, most of which were rejected by the occupation military.

The report noted that in several cases, the Israeli military discovered that individuals it claimed to have no information about were either in Israeli detention facilities or had been killed.

Haaretz indicated that since the start of the war, many Gaza residents have been detained, with some transferred to detention centers in "Israel", while others were held temporarily within Gaza.

One example cited by Haaretz involved a Gaza resident detained by the Israeli military in late May 2024. Despite his family receiving assurances from the military that he was not in custody, it was later revealed otherwise. The man was released approximately two months later and stated that throughout that period, he was detained by the military inside Gaza and moved from one location to another.

Another case highlighted in the report involved the military changing its response after a petition published by Haaretz in November. The case concerned Munir al-Faqawi and his son Yassin, about whom the military initially claimed there was "no indication of their arrest." However, it was later revealed that both had been killed while in detention.