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90 Palestinians detained at end of military operations at Kamal Adwan Hospital in Gaza: Israel

December 17, 2023 at 11:05 am

Israeli forces intervene against Anadolu Agency journalist Enes Canli as Israeli forces pound up Anadolu Agency photojournalist Mostafa Alkharouf while reporting as news in the Wadi al-Joz neighborhood of East Jerusalem on December 15, 2023. [Eyad Tawil – Anadolu Agency]

The Israeli army said Saturday that it detained 90 Palestinians as it announced the end to military operations at the Kamal Adwan Hospital in the northern Gaza Strip, Anadolu Agency reports.

Army spokesperson Avichay Adraee made the announcement after nearly two weeks of an Israeli siege on the hospital that culminated in a “humanitarian catastrophe” according to the Gaza Health Ministry.

Adraee indicated that “during the operation, the army arrested about 90 people, claiming that some “participated in the bloody attack (on the Gaza Strip border) on Oct. 7.”

He alleged that his forces “destroyed terrorist infrastructure in the area and found numerous combat means, secret documents, and tactical communication devices.”

READ: Palestine demands investigation into reports of Israel burying victims alive in Gaza

Palestinian Minister of Health Mai Alkaila urged an investigation earlier Saturday into information suggesting that the Israeli army buried victims who were alive in the courtyard of the Kamal Adwan Hospital in the northern Gaza Strip.

The Palestinian Foreign Ministry also called for an “immediate international investigation into preliminary reports of the occupation committing heinous and horrifying crimes in the courtyard of Kamal Adwan Hospital.”

Munir Al-Bursh, the Director-General of the Ministry of Health in the Gaza Strip, told an Anadolu correspondent that “the Israeli occupation committed a humanitarian catastrophe, turning Kamal Adwan Hospital into a military barracks and deliberately humiliating medical staff and the wounded.”

Meanwhile, Osama Hamdan, a leader of Hamas, said at a news conference in Beirut late Saturday that “Israeli bulldozers buried dozens of displaced people, patients, and the wounded while they were alive, inside and around a hospital in northern Gaza.”

Witnesses told an Anadolu correspondent that the Israeli military vehicles destroyed large parts of the Kamal Adwan Hospital before withdrawing, in addition to directly targeting the buildings with tank shells.

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