How Israeli raids on northern Gaza hospitals compound the enclave’s healthcare emergency

According to the Palestinian health ministry, more than 1,000 medical workers have been killed. (AFP)
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Updated 06 January 2025
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How Israeli raids on northern Gaza hospitals compound the enclave’s healthcare emergency

  • Kamal Adwan Hospital was raided by Israeli forces on Dec. 27, dealing a fresh blow to Gaza’s already devastated health system
  • Israel alleged the facility was a “Hamas terrorist stronghold,” detaining its director Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, patients, and other staff

DUBAI: For months, prominent Palestinian pediatrician Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya had been pleading with the international community to protect medical staff and patients at the Kamal Adwan Hospital amid repeated Israeli assaults.

As one of just two functioning hospitals in northern Gaza, Kamal Adwan served as a lifeline for thousands in need of medical assistance under an Israeli siege that has blocked the delivery of food, shelter materials, and medical supplies since Oct. 5.

However, the pleas of Dr. Abu Safiya, the hospital’s director, fell silent on Dec. 27 when Israeli forces stormed the facility and detained him along with patients and other medical staff, alleging it was a “Hamas terrorist stronghold.”

Since early October 2024, Israel has intensified its siege on northern Gaza, mounting a series of operations intended to root out Hamas fighters. The raid on Kamal Adwan knocked the hospital out of action, dealing a fresh blow to northern Gaza’s already devastated healthcare system.




Since early October 2024, Israel has intensified its siege on northern Gaza. (AFP)

The following day, health officials said Israeli forces targeted Al-Awda Hospital, severely damaging the last functioning facility in northern Gaza. The hospital had been overflowing with patients after the Indonesian Hospital was reportedly put out of service earlier in the month.

On Dec. 29, the Palestinian health ministry said Israeli strikes had left two facilities in Gaza City — Al-Ahli Arab Baptist Hospital and Al-Wafaa Hospital — with significant damage.

“Hospitals have once again become battlegrounds, reminiscent of the destruction of the health system in Gaza City earlier this year,” the World Health Organization said in a statement.

Israel has long accused Hamas of using civilian hospitals for military purposes, employing patients and medical staff as human shields — a claim that the Palestinian militant group that governs Gaza has consistently denied.

In its latest raid on Kamal Adwan Hospital, the Israeli military said its troops had killed 20 “terrorists” and detained 240 others, including Dr. Abu Safiya on suspicion of being “a Hamas terrorist operative.”




Israel has long accused Hamas of using civilian hospitals for military purposes. (AFP)

On Friday, Israel confirmed it was holding Dr. Abu Safiya, but did not specify where. In a statement, the Israel Defense Forces said he was “currently being investigated by Israeli security forces” as he was suspected of being a “terrorist” and for “holding a rank” in Hamas.

Israel launched its military operation in Gaza in retaliation for the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack on southern Israel that killed some 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and saw around 250 taken hostage, including many foreign nationals.

The air and ground campaign in Gaza has caused the death of some 45,400 Palestinians, more than half of them women and children, and left 108,000 wounded, according to the Palestinian health ministry. Around 100 Israelis remain captive in Gaza, but a third are believed to be dead.

Kamal Adwan Hospital has been the target of around 50 recorded attacks on or near the facility since early October 2024, according to the WHO.

The latest raid left the hospital’s laboratory, surgical unit, engineering and maintenance department, operating theater, and medical store severely damaged by fire.




Healthcare workers around the world joined an online solidarity campaign. (AFP)

Lieutenant Colonel Nadav Shoshani, an Israeli military spokesperson, denied troops had entered the facility or started the fire.

“While IDF troops were not in the hospital, a small fire broke out in an empty building inside the hospital that is under control,” he said. A preliminary investigation had found “no connection” between the military operation and the fire, he added.

Dr. Abu Safiya’s detention has sparked global outcry as UN agencies, rights groups, and non-governmental organizations demanded his immediate release.

A viral image of Dr. Abu Safiya, believed to depict his final moments before his arrest, shows him walking alone, dressed in his white lab coat, among the rubble of a devastated street towards Israeli tanks.

Healthcare workers around the world joined an online solidarity campaign, prompting the launch of a petition calling on the US to pressure Israel to release Dr. Abu Safiya and stop targeting hospitals, medical staff, and patients.

Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur on human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories, urged global medical professionals to cut ties with Israel in protest at the arrest.

“For each Palestinian life that should and could have been saved in Gaza, we have been put to the test. And we have failed, over and over,” she posted on X. “We must not fail again. All of us must do all we can to save Dr. Abu Safiya.”

According to the Palestinian health ministry, more than 1,000 medical workers have been killed and more than 300 detained since the war between Israel and Hamas began on Oct. 7, 2023, while some 130 ambulances have been knocked out of action.




Israel launched its military operation in Gaza in retaliation for the Oct. 7, 2023. (AFP)

The whereabouts of Dr. Abu Safiya and his staff remains unknown, although several released detainees told CNN he was being held at the Sde Teiman military base — a facility close to the Gaza border notorious for allegations of abuse, which Israel denies.

Dr. Abu Safiya rose to prominence for documenting the challenges facing healthcare professionals in Gaza since the war began, including shortages of staff and medical supplies.

In an earlier raid on Oct. 25, he was briefly detained and questioned after refusing multiple orders to leave Kamal Adwan Hospital. The Israeli army had stormed the facility, detained many patients and 57 hospital staff, according to Gaza health authorities.

During that Israeli operation, Dr. Abu Safiya’s 15-year-old son was reportedly killed in a drone strike at the hospital gate. Dr. Abu Safiya insisted on continuing to tend to his patients, and continued to do so even after he was wounded in an attack on Nov. 23.

“We are suffering from a severe shortage of doctors, especially surgeons,” he said at the time. “Right now, we only have pediatricians — it is a huge challenge to work under these circumstances.”

On Dec. 31, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights published a report detailing the destruction of Gaza’s healthcare facilities. The report found that 27 hospitals and 12 other medical facilities had suffered 136 strikes between Oct. 7, 2023 and June 30, 2024.

The UN warned that the strikes caused “significant damage to, if not the complete destruction of, civilian infrastructure,” and pushed the healthcare system in the Palestinian territory to the “brink of total collapse.”




In its report, the UN labeled Israel’s claim that Gaza’s hospitals are being used by Hamas for military purposes as “vague” and “insufficient.” (AFP)

Just 17 of Gaza’s 36 hospitals remain partially functional, according to the WHO’s latest figures.

In its report, the UN labeled Israel’s claim that Gaza’s hospitals are being used by Hamas for military purposes as “vague” and “insufficient.”

A day earlier, UN human rights experts said the backing of allies has enabled Israel to continue committing “genocidal acts” and defying international law. They stressed that Israel needed to be held accountable for “inflicting maximum suffering” on Palestinian civilians, particularly in northern Gaza.

They noted the siege, “coupled with expanding evacuation orders, appears intended to permanently displace the local population as a precursor to Gaza’s annexation.”

Israel said the siege was aimed at preventing Hamas from regrouping.

As ceasefire talks continue, the Palestinian health ministry has called on the international community to intervene to protect healthcare professionals, secure the release of detainees, and facilitate a safe environment in which the sick and injured can receive treatment.

The closure of Kamal Adwan Hospital leaves a population of some 75,000 Palestinians in the north without access to medical care — a crisis exacerbated by bitter winter conditions and shortages of food, medicine, and shelter.

More than 90 percent of Gaza’s 2.3 million Palestinians have been repeatedly displaced, according to aid agencies, with many now enduring winter temperatures in squalid tent camps, often flooded by heavy rain, in south and central Gaza.

For those who have remained in northern Gaza, hospitals are no longer an option for shelter.

“As if the relentless bombing and the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza were not enough, the one sanctuary where Palestinians should have felt safe in fact became a death trap,” Volker Turk, the UN human rights chief, said in a statement.




The closure of Kamal Adwan Hospital leaves a population of some 75,000 Palestinians in the north without access to medical care. (AFP)

Health officials say the loss of Kamal Adwan Hospital, in particular, will leave civilians in northern Gaza without treatment at the very moment they are most vulnerable.

In a post on X, Palestinian surgeon Dr. Ghassan Abu Sitta said hypothermia, malnutrition, and injury had become the triad of death.

“This means that people will die of hypothermia at higher temperatures, will starve to death much quicker, and will succumb to less severe wounds.”

 


Iran’s Khamenei warns Israel faces ‘bitter and painful fate’

Updated 5 sec ago
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Iran’s Khamenei warns Israel faces ‘bitter and painful fate’

TEHRAN: Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned that Israel would suffer severe consequences after launching deadly attacks on the Islamic republic on Friday, including Tehran and nuclear sites.
“With this crime, the Zionist regime has set itself for a bitter and painful fate and it will definitely receive it,” Khamenei said in a statement.


UN nuclear watchdog says ‘closely monitoring’ situation after Israel strikes Iran

Updated 11 min 8 sec ago
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UN nuclear watchdog says ‘closely monitoring’ situation after Israel strikes Iran

VIENNA: The UN nuclear watchdog confirmed Friday that Israeli strikes were targeting an Iranian uranium enrichment site, saying it was “closely monitoring the deeply concerning situation.”
“The IAEA is closely monitoring the deeply concerning situation in Iran. Agency can confirm Natanz site among targets,” International Atomic Energy Agency head Rafael Grossi said in a post on the agency’s X feed, as the IAEA’s board of governors meets this week in Vienna.
“The agency is in contact with Iranian authorities regarding radiation levels. We are also in contact with our inspectors in the country,” he added.


Iran’s supreme leader confirms ‘martyrdom’ of several military commanders and scientists in Israeli strikes, vows retribution

Updated 40 sec ago
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Iran’s supreme leader confirms ‘martyrdom’ of several military commanders and scientists in Israeli strikes, vows retribution

  • Khamenei, Revolutionary Guards warn Israel of “harsh punishment” for its attacks
  • Dead scientists identified as Fereydoun Abbasi-Davani and Mohammad Mehdi Tehranchi

RIYADH: Iran’s Supreme Leader Khamenei confirmed on Friday that several military commanders and scientists were “martyred” in Israeli strikes on Tehran.

In a statement carried on state television, Khamenei warned that Israel will not go unpunished for its attacks.

State television earlier said that Hossein Salami, the chief of the Iran's elite Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), was among those killed, along with another top Guard official and two nuclear scientists.

An anchor read a statement saying: “The news of assassination and martyrdom of Gen. Hossein Salami was confirmed.” The anchor did not elaborate.

“The martyrdom of... Major General Gholam Ali Rashid is confirmed,” state television said.

A major power center within Iran’s theocracy, with vast business interests and oversees the nation’s ballistic missile arsenal, the IRGC had been accused by Iran's neighbors of maintaining proxy militias such as the Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthis in Yemen, and Al-Hashd al-Shaabi of Iraq.

Iran’s Nournews also reported that Ali Shamkhani, a rear admiral who serves as adviser to Khamenei, was “critically injured.”

State television and local media also reported the death of two scientists working on Iran's nuclear program. They were identified as Fereydoun Abbasi-Davani and Mohammad Mehdi Tehranchi.

Several children were also reportedly killed in a strike on a residential area in the capital.

Iranian media and witnesses reported explosions including at the country’s main uranium enrichment facility at Natanz, while Israel declared a state of emergency in anticipation of retaliatory missile and drone strikes.

In a recorded video message, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed that Israel targeted Iranian scientists working on a nuclear bomb, its ballistic missile program and its Natanz uranium enrichment facility, in an operation that he said would continue "for as many days as it takes to remove this threat.”

“We are at a decisive moment in Israel’s history,” Netanyahu said, adding that the targeted military operation was meant to roll back the Iranian threat to Israel’s very survival.

An Israeli military official said Israel was striking “dozens” of nuclear and military targets including the facility at Natanz in central Iran. The official said Iran had enough material to make 15 nuclear bombs within days.

Alongside extensive air strikes, Israel’s Mossad spy agency led a series of covert sabotage operations inside Iran, Axios reported, citing a senior Israeli official. These operations were aimed at damaging Iran’s strategic missile sites and its air defense capabilities.

Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport was closed until further notice, and Israel’s air defense units stood at high alert for possible retaliatory strikes from Iran.

“Following the pre-emptive strike by the State of Israel against Iran, a missile and UAV (drone) attack against the State of Israel and its civilian population is expected in the immediate time frame,” Defense Minister Israel Katz said in a statement.

(With Agencies)


Netanyahu says Israel operation against Iran to ‘continue as many days as it takes’

Updated 13 June 2025
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Netanyahu says Israel operation against Iran to ‘continue as many days as it takes’

  • “We are at a decisive moment in Israel’s history,” Netanyahu said in a video message
  • Says Israel also targetting scientists working on Iran nuclear weapons
  • Iran state TV reported that at least two nuclear scientists were killed in the Israeli strike

JERUSALEM: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel’s attack on Iran would “continue for as many days as it takes” after Israel announced it had carried out strikes on Iranian nuclear and military sites.
“This operation will continue for as many days as it takes to remove this threat,” Netanyahu said in a video statement, adding that Israel launched a ‘targeted military operation to roll back the Iranian threat to Israel’s very survival.’

Calling the offensive “Rising Lion,” he said Israel was also targeting Iranian commanders and missile factories, and declared a state of emergency in anticipation of retaliatory missile and drone strikes by Tehran.
“We are at a decisive moment in Israel’s history,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in the recorded video message.

“We struck at the heart of Iran’s nuclear enrichment program. We targeted Iran’s main enrichment facility at Natanz... We also struck at the heart of Iran’s ballistic missile program,” he said, adding that Israel had also hit Iranian nuclear scientists “working on the Iranian bomb.”

Iran state TV later reported that nuclear scientists Fereydoun Abbasi-Davani and Mohammad Mehdi Tehranchi were killed in the Israeli strike.

A witness in Nantanz city said multiple explosions were heard near the facility, and a senior Iranian official told Reuters that the country’s leadership was holding a top security meeting.
 

 


Rubio warns Iran against targetting US positions

Updated 13 June 2025
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Rubio warns Iran against targetting US positions

  • Says the US was not involved and that Israel acted unilaterally because it believes the operation was necessary for self-defense
  • “We are not involved in strikes against Iran and our top priority is protecting American forces in the region,” he said in a statement

WASHINGTON: US Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned Iran late Thursday not to respond to Israeli strikes by hitting American bases, saying Washington was not involved.
“We are not involved in strikes against Iran and our top priority is protecting American forces in the region,” Rubio said in a statement.
“Let me be clear: Iran should not target US interests or personnel.”

He said Israel acted unilaterally because it believes the operation was necessary for self-defense.
Israel announced strikes on Iran, where loud explosions were heard, hours after US President Donald Trump publicly said they should not do so.
“Israel advised us that they believe this action was necessary for its self-defense,” Rubio said, without offering support or criticism of the strikes by the close US ally.
“President Trump and the administration have taken all necessary steps to protect our forces and remain in close contact with our regional partners,” he said.

CNN reported that US President Donald Trump was convening a cabinet meeting.
Crude oil prices jumped more than $3 a barrel on the news.
US and Iranian officials were scheduled to hold a sixth round of talks on Tehran’s escalating uranium enrichment program in Oman on Sunday, according to officials from both countries and their Omani mediators. But the talks have appeared to be deadlocked.
Trump said on Thursday an Israeli strike on Iran “could very well happen” but reiterated his hopes for a peaceful resolution.

US intelligence had indicated that Israel was making preparations for a strike against Iran’s nuclear facilities, and US officials said on condition of anonymity that Israel could attack in the coming days.
The US military is planning for the full range of contingencies in the Middle East, including the possibility that it might have to help evacuate American civilians, a US official told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity.