Israeli forces on Friday raided the Kamal Adwan Hospital, one of three medical facilities on the northern edge of Gaza, ordering dozens of patients and hundreds of others to evacuate and leaving part of the site on fire, Health Ministry officials said.
Elsewhere in Gaza, Israeli strikes killed at least 25 people, including 15 in a single house in Gaza City, medics and the civil emergency service said.
The Palestinian Health Ministry said contact with staff inside the hospital in Beit Lahiya, which has been under heavy pressure from Israeli forces for weeks, had been lost.
“The occupation forces are inside the hospital now and they are burning it,” ministry director Munir Al-Bursh said in a statement.
The Israeli military said it had tried to limit harm to civilians and had “facilitated the secure evacuation of civilians, patients and medical personnel prior to the operation,” but it gave no details.
In a statement, it said fighters from Hamas, which previously controlled the Gaza Strip, had operated from the hospital throughout the current war and had made the site a key stronghold. Hamas dismissed the statement as “lies,” saying there were no fighters in the hospital.
Youssef Abu El-Rish, the Hamas-appointed deputy health minister, said Israeli forces had set fire to the surgical department, laboratory and a storehouse.
The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) said there was a small fire in an empty building inside the hospital that was under control. “Regarding claims that the fire was caused by IDF gunfire, the IDF is currently unaware of any such incident,” it said. “We emphasize that IDF troops are operating in the area of the hospital and not inside of it.”
Like the Indonesian and Al-Awda hospitals, Kamal Adwan has been repeatedly attacked from Israeli forces, who have been striking the northern edge of the Gaza Strip for weeks, Palestinian medical staff say.
Hundreds ordered to leave north Gaza hospital
Bursh, the ministry director, said the army had ordered 350 people to leave Kamal Adwan for a nearby school sheltering displaced families. They included 75 patients, their companions and 185 medical staff.
Abu El-Rish said soldiers were transferring patients and medical staff to the Indonesian Hospital, which had already been put out of action by heavy damage and had been evacuated by Israeli forces a day earlier.
Footage circulating on Palestinian and Arab media, which Reuters could not immediately verify, showed smoke rising from the area of Kamal Adwan.
Much of the area around the northern towns of Jabalia, Beit Hanoun and Beit Lahiya has been cleared of people and razed, fuelling speculation that Israel intends to keep the area as a closed buffer zone after the fighting in Gaza ends.
Israel says its campaign is to prevent Hamas militants from regrouping but that it will retain full security control of Gaza after the war.
On Thursday, health officials said five medical staff, including a pediatrician, had been killed by Israeli fire at Kamal Adwan. The Israeli military said it was unaware of a strike at the hospital and that the report of the medics’ death would be examined.
In a statement, Hamas blamed Israel and the United States for the fate of the hospital’s occupants.
Detainees released from Israeli detention
Meanwhile, about two dozen men arrived at the European Hospital south of Khan Younis on Friday after being released from Israeli prisons. They said they were released after Israeli authorities determined they were not members of Hamas.
Jamal Awad, 58, lay on a blue stretcher with injuries visible on his face and leg. He said he was hit on his head and face after Israeli forces took him and others from their homes, and that he was held at Ofer Prison for 45 days.
“Physical abuse, torture and everything you can think of. They’ve satisfied their hunger with me, the old man, 60 years …” he said as he started to cry.
“They don’t care about the elderly, the children, or otherwise.”
The European Hospital in southern Gaza saw an emotional scene on Friday as about two dozen men arrived after being released from Israeli prisons. Some said they were hit and exposed to cold weather for several weeks, before authorities let them go after determining they were not part of Hamas.
Another man, Muhammad Mahdi Dahman, 30, said he was taken to the Sde Teiman detention centre.
“They hit us and tortured us, and the place we would sleep in was very tough,” he said. “It was barracks open from all four sides. We were given thin blankets in the cold weather; we couldn’t sleep.”
He said his younger brother was still imprisoned.
“We hope that Hamas agrees to any ceasefire; they need to take anything offered to them,” he said. “Because the prisoners are facing challenging circumstances.”
CBC News has reached out to the IDF to confirm they had released around 25 prisoners back into Gaza recently and has yet to receive a response.
Israel’s campaign against Hamas in Gaza has killed more than 45,300 Palestinians, according to health officials in the enclave. Most of the population of 2.3 million has been displaced and much of Gaza is in ruins.
The war was triggered by an attack led by Hamas on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 taken to Gaza as hostages, according to Israeli tallies.
