In a devastating blow to the war-ravaged enclave, the last fully functioning hospital in northern Gaza has been ravaged by an Israeli military raid. The Kamal Adwan hospital in Beit Lahia now stands partially destroyed and deserted, its critical patients forcibly evacuated under harrowing conditions that the World Health Organization says put their survival at grave risk.
The WHO expressed its outrage at Israel’s latest strike on Gaza’s crumbling health infrastructure, warning that the systematic dismantling of medical facilities combined with the months-long siege of the northern region endangers the lives of the 75,000 Palestinians still trapped in the area. Eyewitness reports painted a grim picture of the chaotic scenes that unfolded during and after the raid.
Hospital Departments Gutted, Staff and Patients Detained
Initial assessments indicated that crucial departments of the Kamal Adwan hospital, including the laboratory, surgical unit, engineering section, operating theater, and medical stores, were burnt and severely damaged in the attack. As smoke billowed from the complex, the remaining 15 critical patients, along with 50 caregivers and 20 health workers, were frantically transferred to the nearby Indonesian Hospital.
That facility, however, had itself been battered by earlier bombardments, rendering it non-functional and ill-equipped to handle the influx of intensive care cases. Eyewitnesses recounted the grim ordeal faced by patients and staff alike, with some allegedly stripped of their clothing and forced to walk towards southern Gaza by the invading forces.
WHO Fears for Detainees’ Wellbeing
Of particular concern to the WHO is the fate of the Kamal Adwan hospital director, who they said has been reportedly detained during the incursion. The UN body stated that it had lost contact with him since the raid began, and expressed deep concern for his wellbeing, as well as that of the critical patients now languishing in the defunct Indonesian Hospital without adequate care.
“The WHO is deeply concerned for their wellbeing, as well as for the Kamal Adwan hospital director, who has been reportedly detained during the raid. The WHO lost contact with him since the raid began.”
– World Health Organization statement
The Gaza health ministry issued an urgent appeal for assistance, stating that some patients and health workers had perished in fires ignited by the IDF at the Kamal Adwan hospital. It added that the detained director had been “violently beaten” before his arrest.
Israel Accused of Depopulating Northern Gaza
While an IDF spokesperson asserted that Hamas was using the medical facility as a “terrorist stronghold” necessitating the raid, a senior Hamas official vehemently denied the presence of any fighters at the hospital. Some Israeli and Palestinian military analysts suspect the attack was part of a controversial plan put forward by some former Israeli generals to clear the north of Gaza of its Palestinian residents in order to create an open battlefield against pockets of resistance.
Though officially rejected by the government, elements of the strategy appeared to be playing out on the ground, with the Israeli military now ordering civilians in other northern areas to immediately evacuate towards the south. The foreign minister, in an interview, envisioned a long-term Israeli military presence in Gaza, while dismissing the possibility of international peacekeepers and denying intentions to build settlements in the blockaded Palestinian territory.
As plumes of smoke drift over the hollowed ruins of Gaza’s last proper hospital, and terrified civilians flee the relentless Israeli onslaught, the coastal strip’s worst humanitarian crisis in years continues to unspool with no end in sight. With each passing day, it is the most vulnerable – the sick, the wounded, the infirm – who pay the highest price.
