Kamal Adwan Hospital under siege; we can't treat the injured: Chief
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Hussam Abu Safiya, Director-General of Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza, confirms the hospital remains under siege, with the Israeli occupation blocking medicine, food, and access for civil defense crews.
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Palestinians mourn over relatives killed in an Israeli bombardment in Nuseirat, central Gaza, as they stand in a hospital morgue in Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip, November. 20, 2024. (AP)
Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, the director-general of Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza, confirmed on Wednesday that the hospital remains under intense siege, with the Israeli occupation preventing the entry of medicine and food. Additionally, civil defense teams and ambulances are being blocked from reaching the facility.
Abu Safiya noted that the hospital received a distress call yesterday from the Kahlout family after their home was targeted, but they were unable to assist them due to the ongoing siege, adding that "whoever came was saved, and whoever remained, unfortunately, was martyred."
He highlighted that the hospital is currently treating 85 injured women and children with minimal medical care, including six critically ill patients in intensive care.
Abu Safiya also pointed out that cases of malnutrition have begun to arrive at the hospital, including 17 children suffering from severe malnutrition, adding that "Yesterday, an elderly man died due to severe dehydration, and the situation has become catastrophic."
He emphasized that the same situation persists despite global calls to help the injured, stating, "Unfortunately, there has been no action or even promises from any international entity to open a humanitarian corridor for medical supplies, surgical teams, baby food, infant formula, therapeutic milk for malnutrition cases, or ambulances."
Since the start of the aggression on Gaza, the Israeli occupation has killed over 1,000 doctors and nurses while continuing to target hospitals, medical centers, civil defense teams, and ambulances. Additionally, the Civil Defense announced today that most of its vehicles have stopped working in the Gaza Strip.
The Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza issued a distress call, stating that it "may be the last," and revealed that Israeli occupation forces continue to heavily bomb Kamal Adwan Hospital, violently destroying all of its facilities.
The Israeli occupation forces had previously raided Kamal Adwan Hospital, one of the largest hospitals in the Gaza Strip, blocking aid to the wounded and carrying out a series of attacks on the facility.
'Israel' continues genocidal policy in Gaza
The Israeli occupation forces continue their massacres and the destruction of residential buildings, targeting homes with residents inside in Gaza, with bombardments concentrated on the northern and central areas of the Strip.
Earlier today, Al Mayadeen’s correspondent in the Gaza Strip reported that 12 Palestinians were massacred and more than 10 others are missing after Israeli occupation forces bombed a house in Jabalia town, located in the northern Gaza Strip.
Our correspondent further detailed that the Israeli military demolished several residential buildings around the Jabalia refugee camp during the airstrike.
As Civil Defense teams worked to rescue survivors, retrieve the martyrs, and search for the missing under the rubble in the Al-Sabra neighborhood, they became targets themselves. Israeli airstrikes hit their teams during rescue operations, resulting in the martyrdom of one paramedic and injuries to three others.
The Civil Defense confirmed that its personnel were directly targeted by Israeli warplanes in the early morning hours. They emphasized that the IOF are deliberately obstructing efforts to rescue trapped civilians, contributing to the increasing death toll.
Heart-wrenching videos have emerged from Gaza, one of which shows a paramedic holding the amputated arm of his colleague, who was killed in a deliberate Israeli airstrike. The harrowing footage captures the emotional moment as the first responder mourns his fallen comrade.
A civil defense member holds the arm of his colleague who was killed in an Israeli air strike in Gaza city. pic.twitter.com/Q4Lmoyhsoq
— Eye on Palestine (@EyeonPalestine) November 20, 2024
Nooh, a Palestinian Civil Defense member, broke down in tears as he held the hand of his colleague, Ali Mohammed Mustafa Omar after they were targeted by Israeli occupation forces while rescuing families from the rubble in the Al-Sabra neighborhood of Gaza City. "They bombed us while saving a woman," he said in a soul-piercing voice.
His colleague crying “I swear he got 5 kids alive from under there we all left and he was trying to get the woman out”
— cheri 🔻 (@cheriblossom__) November 20, 2024
Ali Mustafa was part of the civil defense and he was targeted while recovering the martyred and wounded in Gaza City. pic.twitter.com/broCX17Sem
The spokesperson for Gaza’s Civil Defense announced that the number of martyrs among its teams has now risen to 87.
