THE Israeli army has once again targeted a hospital in northern Gaza less than two weeks after it set fire to the same facility and detained its director.
Al Jazeera reports that a series of Israeli air strikes targeted the vicinity of the destroyed Kamal Adwan hospital in Beit Lahiya, northern Gaza, over the weekend.
We told how Israeli troops stormed the hospital at the end of December, forcing many of the staff and patients out of the facility, forcing them to assemble in the hospital yard and remove their clothes amid icy winter temperatures.
Gaza’s health ministry said that Israeli troops set fires in several parts of Kamal Adwan, including the hospital’s lab and surgery department, while the hospital’s director, Dr Hussam Abu Safiya, was detained by the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF).
Israel’s military said it was conducting operations against Hamas infrastructure and fighters in the area of the hospital but denied entering or setting fire to the complex.
Meanwhile, the ministry said two more public hospitals in northern Gaza had been taken out of service by Israeli attacks on Saturday.
It comes as a UN report said that Israeli strikes targeting hospitals and their surroundings in the Gaza Strip have pushed the territory’s healthcare system “to the brink of total collapse with catastrophic effect on Palestinians’ access to health and medical care”.
At least 45,885 Palestinians have been killed since October 7, 2023, with 109,196 people injured.
Gaza’s health ministry said that at least 31 people have been killed in the past 24 hours.
Meanwhile, two Palestinians have been killed by Israeli troops in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza.
Reports have also emerged that Israeli forces targeted a house in the Shati refugee camp, in northern Gaza City, killing four people.
A number of people were also reportedly wounded when Israeli troops bombed a tent belonging to a displaced family near the entrance of the Maghazi refugee camp in central Gaza.
