Israeli forces storm hospital in northern Gaza, Health Ministry spokesman claims
12 December 2023, 10:44
The spokesman called on the UN and the International Committee of the Red Cross to intervene.
Israeli forces have stormed a hospital in the northern Gaza Strip, a spokesman for the territory’s Health Ministry has said.
Ashraf al-Qidra said the troops forced all the men at Kamal Adwan Hospital, including medics, to gather in the courtyard after entering the facility on Tuesday.
He called on the UN and the International Committee of the Red Cross to intervene.
There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military.
The army has said it is rounding up men in northern Gaza as it searches for Hamas fighters.
Photos and video circulated online have shown detainees stripped to their underwear, bound and blindfolded. Some who have been released say they were beaten and denied food and water.
The UN humanitarian office said the hospital has 65 patients, including 12 children in intensive care and six newborn babies in incubators.
Some 3,000 displaced people are sheltering there, all awaiting evacuation because of severe shortages of food, water and electricity.
Most of the population of northern Gaza fled weeks ago when Israel ordered a full evacuation.
Ground troops invaded in late October after a blistering three-week air campaign. Israel accuses Hamas of using civilians as human shields.
Tens of thousands of people remain in the north, where they have been almost entirely cut off from humanitarian aid for weeks. The health system in the north has largely collapsed.
Israel has said its offensive against Gaza’s Hamas rulers, sparked by their attack on October 7, could go on for weeks or months.
In a briefing with the Associated Press on Monday, Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant refused to commit to a firm timeline, but signalled that the current phase of heavy ground fighting and air strikes could stretch on for weeks and that further military activity could continue for months.
He said the next phase would be lower-intensity fighting against “pockets of resistance” and would require Israeli troops to maintain their freedom of operation.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said Israel will maintain security control over Gaza indefinitely.
