Israel sets fire to intensive care unit at Kamal Adwan Hospital in Gaza
Israeli occupation forces have once again targeted north Gaza’s Kamal Adwan Hospital, striking its intensive care unit (ICU) and setting it ablaze. Hospital Director Hussam Abu Safiya said patients were… pic.twitter.com/hgFXjk3uVW
— Middle East Monitor (@MiddleEastMnt) December 18, 2024
Israeli military vehicles targeted Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza igniting a fire in its intensive care unit (ICU), according to the hospital’s Director, Hussam Abu Safiya.
Abu Safiya said: “We were surprised by the entry of vehicles and bulldozers into the vicinity of the hospital, which was preceded by a terrifying targeting of citizens’ homes in the vicinity. We heard gunfire and shells without being able to do anything.”
In a video recorded outside the smoke-filled ICU, he detailed the attack: “Sudden and crazy gunfire was fired at the hospital with all kinds of weapons, and the occupation deliberately targeted the intensive care unit by firing at it clearly.”
Abu Safiya revealed that patients on ventilators were evacuated just moments before the fire caused by Israel engulfed the ICU. “We miraculously evacuated the patients who were on ventilators from the intensive care unit and the fire broke out inside it,” he said, noting that it is “the only department in the northern Gaza Strip.”
He described the situation at Kamal Adwan Hospital, particularly in the ICU, as “catastrophic and still dangerous,” with fires still raging as there is little by way of equipment to stop them. He described how the fires were brought under control using the blankets and the little drinking water that remained in the hospital.
Israeli occupation forces had already targeted the hospital’s water tanks and network.
“The intensive care unit is out of service and the situation is catastrophic. We have appealed to the world for more than 75 days to provide protection for the health system and its workers, but there is no response.”
The hospital faces daily attacks by Israeli occupation forces. On Monday, Israeli quadcopter drones struck the hospital’s generators, cutting power and causing further damage to the ICU, putting patients’ lives at risk.
Since 5 October, Israel has launched a large-scale ground operation in northern Gaza, tightening its siege on the area. Palestinians accuse Israel of seeking to occupy the area and forcibly displace its residents.
Since then, insufficient humanitarian aid, including food, medicine and fuel, has been allowed into the area, leaving the remaining population there on the verge of imminent famine.
The onslaught was the latest episode in a brutal Israeli war on the Gaza Strip, in which it has killed more than 45,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, since 7 October 2023.
Last month, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and former Defence Minister, Yoav Gallant, for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on Gaza.
READ: Gaza hospital water tanks targeted by occupation forces