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ISRAELI forces have assaulted the last functioning hospital in besieged northern Gaza, bombing it and killing children inside, according to doctors.
Medical sources reported that at least 63 Palestinians lost their lives in Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip early yesterday morning.
They stated that ‘a large number of the martyrs are women and children’.
The assault on Kamal Adwan hospital in Beit Lahia, northwest of Jabalia, began around 2am local time on Friday, shortly after a delegation from the World Health Organisation departed.
According to Dr Munir al-Bursh, director-general of the Palestinian health ministry in Gaza, the attack started with airstrikes on the hospital and its courtyards, including the medical oxygen generator.
The bombardment resulted in the deaths of children inside the hospital and injured medical personnel.
Approximately two hours later, Israeli soldiers stormed the hospital, ordering all patients, including those in intensive care, to assemble in the courtyard.
They detained and interrogated the young men sheltering in the hospital. Among those abducted was renowned teenage Palestinian activist and journalist Aboud Battah.
Kamal Adwan is one of three hospitals in northern Gaza that have been subjected to a crippling Israeli siege for three weeks, receiving minimal aid, medicine, food, or fuel since the blockade commenced. The other two hospitals, the Indonesian Hospital and al-Awda Hospital, have ceased operations in recent days owing to continuous Israeli assaults.
Kamal Adwan had continued to function at minimal capacity, providing life-saving care to newborns in neonatal intensive care units and other patients in ICUs.
Hussam Abu Safiya, director of Kamal Adwan hospital, condemned the situation. Speaking from the Intensive Care Unit where the wounded and medical staff had gathered following the Israeli bombardment, he said: ‘Instead of receiving aid, we receive tanks… which are shelling the building.’
He questioned: ‘Where is the law? Which law in the world allows for a hospital to be directly targeted?’
On 5 October, the Israeli military initiated a fresh offensive on northern Gaza, which rights groups and experts have described as part of a plan to ethnically cleanse Palestinians from the area.
This followed the presentation of a contentious proposal known as the ‘Generals’ Plan’ to the Israeli authorities, aiming to evacuate areas north of the Netzarim Corridor — effectively bisecting Gaza — to establish a ‘closed military zone’.
Under this plan, anyone remaining in the area would be deemed a Hamas operative and could be killed.
The UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) estimates that approximately 400,000 people, including residents of Gaza City, remain in the northern Gaza Strip.
In southern Gaza, Israeli airstrikes struck residential homes in the al-Manara neighbourhood of Khan Younis on Friday, resulting in the deaths of at least 38 Palestinians.
These airstrikes were accompanied by a ground incursion by Israeli forces, supported by intense air and artillery fire.
Witnesses recounted widespread devastation, with entire homes demolished in residential areas where families had sought refuge.
In the Qizan al-Najjar area of Khan Younis, artillery shells struck homes, killing two Palestinians and injuring several others. Three Palestinians were killed and others wounded when Israeli artillery targeted the Maan neighbourhood east of Khan Younis. These fatalities, reported by health officials, are the latest in Khan Younis, where residents have recently queued for bread outside the city’s sole functioning bakery.
The attacks occurred a day after US Secretary of State Antony Blinken stated that Israel had achieved its goal of ‘effectively dismantling’ Hamas.
Over 150 Palestinians were killed or injured in a ‘major massacre’ at the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza after Israeli forces demolished 11 residential houses in the al-Hawaja area on Thursday evening. The Palestinian Civil Defence agency stated: ‘There is talk of more than 150 martyrs and wounded.’ It noted that the final death toll could increase, as rescue operations were hindered by Israeli bombings and restrictions imposed by forces besieging northern Gaza for three weeks.
At least 18 people lost their lives on Thursday in an attack on the Nuseirat Martyrs School located in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza. Gaza’s Government Media Office reported that the school was sheltering thousands of displaced persons.
This attack raises the number of displacement centres targeted by Israeli forces to 196. Ismail al-Thawabta, director of Gaza’s Government Media Office, stated that eleven children were also killed in the Israeli bombing of al-Maghazi Services Club in the adjacent Maghazi refugee camp.
The regime’s brutal assault on Gaza has thus far resulted in the deaths of nearly 43,000 Palestinians, predominantly women and children, and injured approximately 100,600 others.
Thousands more are missing and presumed dead beneath the rubble.
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