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Israel fires tear gas into Palestinian hospital

September 1, 2020 at 5:09 pm

An Israeli soldier fires tear gas at Palestinians in the West Bank on 29 September 2019 [Issam Rimawi/Anadolu Agency]

Palestinian patients were injured as a result of tear gas fired by Israeli occupation forces into Princess Alia Governmental Hospital in Hebron city.

Director of the Hebron governmental hospital, Dr Tariq Barbarawy, told Chinese news agency Xinhua that the Israeli soldiers fired tear gas towards one of the internal medicine department’s rooms, which has many patients infected with the coronavirus.

In a video statement, he said, “Between 4:30 and 5:00 am, we were caught off guard by a tear gas canister which suddenly landed in our coronavirus and internal medicine wards.”

He added that the tear gas was widespread inside the hospital departments, which suffocated medical staff and dozens of patients.

According to Wafa news agency, almost 25 patients and doctors required treatment due to the smoke.

Barbarawy said patients who suffered suffocation are now in a stable condition but the smell of tear gas can still be felt in the hospital, adding that there was no reason for the attack.

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Rami Al-Qawasmi, director of the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Hebron, condemned the Israeli attack, calling on the international community to pressure the occupation state to stop its violations against Palestinians.

According to the times of Israel, the Israeli army claimed it had “no knowledge of what happened inside the hospital.”