‘This horror must end’: WHO condemns Israeli assault on key Gaza hospital 

The World Health Organization has condemned Israel’s storming of a vital hospital in northern Gaza, saying assaults on medical facilities are a “death sentence” for thousands of Palestinians and that “this horror must end”.

An Israeli military assault on the Kamal Adwan Hospital on Friday put the last major health facility in northern Gaza out of service, the WHO said.

“Initial reports indicate that some key departments were severely burned and destroyed during the raid,” the WHO said in a statement on X on Friday evening.

The Israeli military said in a statement that it had launched a raid on the Kamal Adwan Hospital as it “serves as a Hamas terrorist stronghold”, but failed to provide evidence. Hamas said it “categorically” denied the claims.

As of Friday morning, the hospital housed about 350 people, including 75 patients, along with 180 medical staff.

The WHO said 60 health workers and 25 patients in critical condition, including those on ventilators, reportedly remain in the hospital.

The patients in moderate to severe condition were forced to evacuate to the destroyed and non-functional Indonesian Hospital, the United Nations health agency said, adding that it was “deeply concerned for their safety”.

The WHO reiterated its call for a ceasefire.

“This raid on Kamal Adwan Hospital comes after escalating restrictions on access for WHO and partners, and repeated attacks on or near the facility since early October,” the WHO said.

“Such hostilities and the raids are undoing all our efforts and support to keep the facility minimal functional. The systematic dismantling of the health system in Gaza is a death sentence for tens of thousands of Palestinians in need of healthcare.

“This horror must end and healthcare must be protected.”

Israel’s military began a renewed ground offensive in northern Gaza in October and claimed, also without evidence, that the hospital had become “a key stronghold for terrorist organisations and continues to be used as a hideout for terrorist operatives”.

Before initiating the latest attack on the hospital, the Israeli military said its soldiers had “facilitated the secure evacuation of civilians, patients, and medical personnel”.

Hamas denied its fighters were present in the hospital, and urged the UN to set up an investigation committee “to examine the scale of crime being committed in northern Gaza”.

“We categorically deny the presence of any military activity or resistance fighters in the hospital,” Hamas said in a statement.

“The enemy’s lies about the hospital aim to justify the heinous crime committed by the occupation army today, involving the evacuation and burning of all hospital departments as part of a plan for extermination and forced displacement.”

Al Jazeera’s Hamdah Salhut said the Israeli military has often accused Hamas fighters of operating from medical facilities, but has never proven these claims.

“Most notable was the raid on al-Shifa Hospital back in 2023 when the military said Hamas was using al-Shifa as a command and control centre, claims that to this day have still never been proven,” she said, reporting from Amman, Jordan, because Al Jazeera has been banned from operating in Israel and the occupied West Bank.

“Now, Kamal Adwan was the last functioning hospital in northern Gaza, but again, it was barely functioning because of the siege that was put forward by Israeli forces – a siege on food, water, and all other sorts of medical supplies.”

Gaza health officials said on Saturday that Israeli forces had detained the director of the hospital.

“The occupation forces have taken dozens of the medical staff from Kamal Adwan Hospital to a detention centre for interrogation, including the director, Hussam Abu Safia,” the Palestinian Health Ministry in the Hamas-run territory said in a statement.

The Gaza civil defence agency also reported that Abu Safia had been detained.

The ministry had earlier quoted Abu Safia as saying that the military had “set on fire all surgery departments of the hospital”.

Abu Safia said there were “a large number of injuries” among the medical team.

On Thursday, Abu Safia said five staff members had been killed in an Israeli air attack.

Israel’s assault has killed more than 45,300 Palestinians since October last year, mostly children and women, according to health officials in the enclave. The vast majority of Gaza’s 2.3 million people have been displaced and much of Gaza is in ruins.

In recent days, Abu Safia has repeatedly raised concerns about the hospital’s situation.

“The world must understand that our hospital is being targeted with the intent to kill and forcibly displace the people inside,” he said in a statement on Monday.