The head of the World Health Organization called for an end to the attacks on hospitals in Gaza.
“Hospitals in Gaza have once again become battlefields and the health system is under serious threat,” Dr. said. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
His warning came after the Israeli military stormed the last functioning hospital in besieged northern Gaza, Kamal Adwan, on Friday and forcibly evacuated it, and two hospitals in Gaza City were attacked on Sunday.
The military said two locations were used as Hamas command centers, but denied attacking a third.
dr. Tedros also joined human rights groups and relatives in calling for the immediate release of director Kamal Adwan, Ph.D. Hussam Abu Safiya, who was arrested by Israeli forces.
Israel’s military said on Saturday that its hospital was a Hamas “stronghold” and that troops had killed around 20 “terrorists” and detained 240 others during the raid. It was added that dr. Abu Safiya is among those taken in for questioning and that he is “suspected of being a Hamas terrorist operative.”
The army has not provided evidence for the accusations, which Hamas has dismissed as “lies”.
American MedGlobal condemned the detention of Dr. Abu Safiye, who was their lead doctor in Gaza, as “not only unjust”, but also “a violation of international humanitarian law, which supports the protection of medical personnel in conflict zones”.
His family expressed concern for his health, saying he was still recovering from severe injuries sustained in last month’s attack and was likely suffering from the cold as he was forced to remove his clothes.
Son of dr. Abu Safiye, Elias, told BBC Arabic that authorities had confirmed reports that he was at the Sde Teiman military base in southern Israel, where Israeli forces had taken many prisoners from Gaza for interrogation.
Several Palestinians who were recently released from detention over the weekend also said they saw Dr. Abu Safiya or heard his name read, according to CNN.
Dr Tedros said Kamal Adwan was not on duty after the raid and critically ill patients were being transferred to a “dysfunctional” Indonesian hospital, which he warned was severely damaged and unable to provide care.
“Amid the ongoing chaos in northern Gaza, WHO and partners today delivered basic medical and hygiene supplies, food and water to an Indonesian hospital and transferred 10 critical patients to al-Shifa Hospital [in Gaza City]”, he said.
“Four patients were detained during the transfer. We call on Israel to ensure that their health needs and rights are respected.”
Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry said one of the detained patients was in critical condition, and that seven patients and 10 medical staff remained in an Indonesian hospital.
Israeli forces launched a major ground offensive in the northern towns of Jabalia, Beit Lahia and Beit Hanoun on October 6, saying they were preventing Hamas from regrouping there. The UN says the areas are under almost total siege and that Israeli forces have largely withheld humanitarian aid for more than 11 weeks.
dr. Tedros also said al-Ahli Hospital and al-Wafa Rehabilitation Hospital in Gaza City “were also attacked” and were both damaged.
On Sunday, seven people were killed and others seriously wounded in an Israeli attack on the top floor of al-Wafa hospital, according to the Hamas-run Civil Defense Agency.
The Israeli military said the attack targeted Hamas fighters who were using the building as a command and control center. It is added that the building was not used as a hospital at that time.
But a witness told the BBC that patients and medical staff were inside the hospital.
The fourth-year medical student said she was in the hospital with her colleagues, preparing for an exam, when she was bombed.
“There was a lot of smoke and we almost suffocated. Glass from the destroyed windows fell over us. We hid under the tables and ran away,” she added.
“While we were going down the stairs, we saw patients in wheelchairs, others were being carried. Our professor had a head injury and was bleeding, some other colleagues had minor injuries.”
The wounded were taken to al-Ahli Hospital, which Palestinian media said was hit by Israeli shelling earlier on Sunday.
A video clip published on the Internet it turned out to show damage to the top floor of a building at the site.
However, the Israeli army denied on Monday that its forces had attacked the hospital.
A displaced man living near al-Ahli Hospital told BBC Arabic he feared it would be the next to be raided by Israeli forces.
“If we are besieged here, then where can we go? How long will this suffering last? We have been displaced about six or seven times,” he said. “They bombed all the homes, schools and hospitals. There is no safe place for us to take shelter anymore.”
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) also warned on Monday that hostilities in and around hospitals had “wiped out the health system in northern Gaza, putting civilians at unacceptably high risk of going without life-saving care”.
“Medical facilities have protection and civilians have protection in conflict situations. That needs to be respected and that is our constant call,” spokeswoman Sarah Davies told the BBC.
“More aid, more supplies must be able to enter Gaza and be safely distributed, and civilians must have safe access to those basic services they rely on to survive.”
Israel launched a campaign to destroy Hamas in response to the group’s unprecedented attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, which killed around 1,200 people and took 251 hostages.
More than 45,540 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the territory’s health ministry.
