Updated:2024-12-11 02:45 Views:69
Israeli airstrikes and intense gunfire on the ground around one of the last working hospitals in northern Gaza killed or wounded scores of people early Fridayph365, the hospital’s director said, as Israeli forces ordered the building evacuated.
Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, the director of Kamal Adwan Hospital in Jabaliya, in a statement described “a series of airstrikes on the northern and western sides of the hospital,” which did not hurt anyone in the hospital, but were followed by “heavy and direct gunfire.” When dawn broke, he said, bodies were “in the streets, surrounding the hospital,” and four medical staff members were among the dead.
“The situation inside and around the hospital is catastrophic,” said Dr. Safiya, whose statement was released by Gaza’s Health Ministry, which is part of the enclave’s prewar government controlled by Hamas, the militant group that is at war with Israel.
“Medical supplies are nearly depleted, and there are hundreds of victims,” he added, a figure that could not be independently verified.
The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Friday.
The details remain murky, but Dr. Rik Peeperkorn, the World Health Organization’s chief representative for the Palestinian territories, said there was “intense bombing close to the building and an attack by Israeli forces who ordered everyone to leave,” sparking panic that apparently added to the casualties.
The hospital did not receive the kind of official evacuation order that sometimes precedes airstrikes, he said, before Israeli forces entered around 4 a.m. and told people to leave.
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