Israeli forces have killed the eight-year-old son of Dr Hussam Abu Safiyya, director of Kamal Adwan Hospital, following his refusal to abandon the hospital despite Israeli orders and threats. Occupational forces have now withdrawn from Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza, leaving a trail of destruction in the last functioning medical facility in the area.
Israeli forces stormed Kamal Adwan Hospital on Friday for defying the evacuation order. According to Al Jazeera, doctors said the attack also destroyed the oxygen station of the hospital, leading to the deaths of two babies in the ICU.
According to Maher Shamia, an assistant undersecretary at the Ministry of Health, the Israeli military demanded Dr Abu Safiya meet with the commanding officer in the hospital courtyard, where he was forced to undergo questioning. A photo that is shared on social media shows Abu Safiya standing in the hospital courtyard with two other medical staff, wearing white coats and hands up in the air.
In another video, Abu Safiya can be seen heartbroken while leading the funeral prayer for his son, Ibrahim.
The director-general of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, denounced the attack on Kamal Adwan Hospital as “deeply disturbing”. He said the WHO had lost touch with its personnel there.
“Kamal Adwan Hospital has been overflowing with close to 200 patients – a constant stream of horrific trauma cases. It is also full of hundreds of people seeking shelter, he wrote on X.
Reports indicate that Israeli forces have detained patients, staff, and family members inside the hospital, their fate unknown amid ongoing attacks. In a concerning development, men inside the hospital were reportedly separated from women and required to strip, with some bound and subjected to on-site interrogations.
Women were later permitted to leave toward Gaza City, while the men remained held.
The UN’s leading humanitarian aid official has cautioned that given the rapidly worsening conditions and an intense weeks-long offensive by the Israeli army, “the entire population of North Gaza is at risk of dying”.
“Hospitals have been hit and health workers have been detained. Shelters have been emptied and burned down,” said Joyce Msuya, acting undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief coordinator.
At least 640 Palestinians have been killed there since the siege began in northern Gaza earlier this month.
