“Bastion of terrorists”: Israel attacks and detains the director of the last operational hospital in northern Gaza

A new Israeli offensive left the last operational hospital in the northern Gaza Strip out of service. The health center Kamal Adwan It was “unusable,” according to the Ministry of Health in Gaza. This same body, controlled by the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), denounced that Israeli troops detained wounded people and members of the medical staff. However, the Israeli Army later released 400 of those detained, except for the director of the hospital. the doctor Hosam Abu Safiyawho remains arrested, according to the EFE agency.

«The occupation forces [israelíes] “Dozens of medical staff from Kamal Adwan Hospital, including Dr. Hosam Abu Safiya, were taken to a detention center for interrogation,” the ministry said in a statement.

The World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed that the hospital was left “empty” and “out of service” after the Israeli attack, despite being the only one left in operation in the northern Gaza Strip. “Initial reports indicate that some key services were severely burned and destroyed during the raid. “Sixty staff members and 25 patients are in critical condition,” AFP reports in the words of the WHO. “The systematic dismantling of the health system and a siege for more than 80 days in northern Gaza endangers the lives of the 75,000 Palestinians who remain in the area,” the UN health agency said in a statement.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) recognized the operation and defended that it was carried out in “the hospital area” after “receiving information about the presence of terrorist infrastructure and operatives carrying out terrorist activities.” The Israeli army announced that it had launched an operation against Hamas fighters near this hospital, which played an essential role in the Gaza Strip, where the health system has been devastated after more than 14 months of war between Israel and the Islamist movement. Palestinian. In their statement, Israeli forces described the hospital as a “stronghold of terrorist organizations,” which Hamas denies.

Israel has used this argument repeatedly to carry out offensives to wear down the Islamist group, in the same way that they reject the use of hospitals and other buildings of this nature as centers of terrorist activities. “The enemy’s lies about the hospital are intended to justify the abominable crime committed today by the occupation army, which evacuated and burned all the hospital services as part of a plan of extermination and forced displacement,” Hamas said. calling for a UN commission of inquiry.