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An Israeli military operation on a hospital in Gaza has put the last major health facility north of the blockaded strip out of service, according to the UN health agency, adding to the deepening humanitarian crisis in the enclave.
The attack on the Kamal Adwan hospital came as Israel intensified an offensive in northern Gaza that began in October and killed hundreds of people and forced tens of thousands to flee.
The Israeli military says it is fighting to prevent the regrouping of Hamas in northern Gaza, where most of the population has been forced to flee during Israel’s 14-month offensive against the Palestinian militant group.
The World Health Organization said initial reports indicated that key sections of the medical facility were severely burned and destroyed during Friday’s raid.
It said 60 health workers with ventilators and 25 patients in critical condition remained in the hospital, while others were forced to be evacuated to other affected hospitals.
“The systematic dismantling of the health system in Gaza is a death sentence for thousands of Palestinians in need of health care,” the WHO said in a statement late Friday. “This horror must end and health care must be protected.”
The Palestinian Ministry of Health said Kamal Adwan’s operation and surgical department, laboratory, maintenance, ambulance unit and warehouse were “completely burnt”.
“The occupying forces are forcibly evacuating the sick and injured at gunpoint. . . Hospitals in Indonesia, which lack medical supplies, water, medicine and even electricity and generators,” it said in a statement. “There are patients who are in danger of dying at any moment as a result of the harsh conditions.”
The Israeli military said it had launched an operation in the “area” of Kamal Adwan following intelligence that Hamas militants were using the hospital.
It added that its troops were “conducting targeted operations in the area while minimizing harm to unaffiliated civilians, patients and medical personnel”. It said its forces were not responsible for the fire at the hospital.
Hamas has denied that its fighters are using the hospital for military operations.
UN agencies and humanitarian groups have repeatedly condemned Israel for attacks on medical facilities in Gaza since the Palestinian group launched an offensive against Hamas on October 7, 2023, in an attack that killed 1,200 people.
The WHO said it verified 516 attacks on health facilities and medical transport in Gaza, adding that more than 90 percent of medical facilities in the Strip were damaged or destroyed.
Israeli attacks on northern Gaza continue ahead of US President-elect Donald Trump’s return to the White House next month as mediators push for a deal to end the fighting and release remaining Israeli hostages held in the Strip.
The operation reduced Jabalia, which was Gaza’s largest refugee camp before the war and was home to more than 100,000 people, to rubble and extended into neighboring Beit Lahiya where the Kamal Adwan Hospital is located.
On Saturday, the Israeli military said its forces had launched an operation in Beit Hanoun district.
According to Palestinian health officials, the Israeli offensive has killed more than 45,000 people and forced 2.3 million people from their homes in the Strip.
