IOF take head of Kamal Adwan Hospital, 70 staff to unknown location
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The Palestinian Health Ministry confirms that the number of Palestinians killed in the Israeli aggression on Gaza has surpassed 18,500.
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A destroyed infant intensive care unit of Kamal Adwan Hospital after being struck by Israeli occupation forces in Beit Lahia, Gaza on November 19, 2023 (social media)
Israeli occupation forces have detained the director of Kamal Adwan Hospital, Ahmad al-Kahlout, along with 70 medical personnel, and took them to an undisclosed location, the Palestinian Health Ministry confirmed on Tuesday.
In its latest update, the ministry stated that the number of Palestinians killed by the Israeli occupation in Gaza has surpassed 18,500, while the injured count has risen above 50,000, as the ongoing brutal Israeli war on the Strip nears its 10th week.
Moreover, Israeli occupation forces shelled the vicinity of the Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis city, which has been receiving wounded and martyred Palestinians nonstop throughout the day. Over 15 martyrs were confirmed to have arrived at the hospital after a series of Israeli massacres, the most recently reported was in the Nusseirat camp.
For a few days now, Israeli snipers have taken over the buildings surrounding Kamal Adwan Hospital and have been continuously shooting toward its courtyards and into patients' rooms. Earlier on Tuesday, Israeli occupation forces raided the hospital and locked down thousands of patients, medical personnel and displaced Palestinians inside. According to the health ministry, medical teams, including female staff, were interrogated under threat in the emergency department.
The spokesperson for the ministry, Ashraf al-Qudra, revealed earlier that the Israeli occupation had deliberately targeted 137 facilities, rendering 22 hospitals and 46 primary care centers inoperable.
The crime was supported by the United States
In a statement, the Palestinian Resistance party Hamas said that the Israeli storming of the Kamal Adwan Hospital "is a desperate attempt, which has failed so many times, to force our people to leave the northern regions of Gaza."
"Culminating in the detention of many people, including medical staff, the assault comes after many days of shelling and siege of the hospital, as well as the denial of water, food, and medical supplies for the wounded, sick, and displaced," the statement read.
The party also added that this incursion was fully supported and covered by the US President Joe Biden's administration.
"The policy of bombing and besieging hospitals and the systematic destruction of the healthcare system in Gaza are crimes under international and humanitarian law, with the full cover and support of the US administration," the statement read.
"Stopping these crimes and holding this fascist entity accountable demands a united and resolute international stance.”
False pretexts to destroy the hospital
After detaining al-Kahlout and dozens of his colleagues, the remaining hospital workers were ordered by the Israeli occupation forces to gather all patients in one building and vacate the rest of the hospital.
Meanwhile, the health ministry warned that 38 healthcare workers, including Dr. Mohammad Abu Salmiya, the director of the al-Shifa Medical Complex, are currently detained by the Israeli occupation military under inhumane conditions.
Read more: Genocide in Gaza ongoing, IOF targets more residential buildings
The health ministry also sounded the alarm about the precarious situation of 65 wounded and 12 ill children in pediatric care, who are without electricity, water, or food, still in the Kamal Adwan Hospital.
There is fear that the Israeli occupation might fabricate new lies and fake narratives to justify further crimes and potentially destroy the hospital, it warned.
Despite the catastrophic toll of martyrs in Gaza, the situation is expected to worsen as a significant number of people remain trapped under debris, while ambulances are barred from reaching the wounded due to depleted fuel reserves.
