Israeli military surrounds compound of one of the few partially functioning medical facilities in the north after shelling building.
More than 150 patients and staff are trapped at the Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahiya as the Israeli military besieges the medical facility, the Palestinian Civil Defence in Gaza has told Al Jazeera.
Israeli forces raided the hospital in northern Gaza on Friday and ordered patients to move down to the main courtyard, the Wafa news agency reported, as they conducted mass arrests.
The raid came a day after Israeli tanks shelled the compound of the hospital, one of the few remaining functioning medical facilities in the north of the enclave, as the Israeli siege entered its third week.
According to the hospital’s director, Hussam Abu Safia, the intensive care unit suffered severe damage from the tank attack. He warned that the hospital could become a mass grave as one patient was dying every hour as a result of the Israeli military assault.
Reporting from Deir el-Balah in central Gaza, Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud said witnesses and doctors at the scene said fires had broken out, making it difficult for people to evacuate the building and for ambulances to operate.
Wounded patients and those with other health complications were dragged outside the buildings into the courtyard of the hospital, Mahmoud reported.
“This is happening at a time when fuel was expected to reach the hospital to sustain the power generators,” Mahmoud said. “It’s hard to imagine that the hospital will be able to sustain its operations now as it comes under direct attack by the Israeli military.”
He said there was a heavy military presence in the area, with dozens of Israeli tanks surrounding the medical compound.
The Israeli military said troops were continuing ground operations across the Gaza Strip and claimed that they had dismantled infrastructure and tunnel shafts and killed fighters in the Jabalia area in the north.
It did not comment on the immediate situation regarding the hospitals and camps.
Hospitals under fire
A second medical facility in northern Gaza, the Indonesian Hospital in Beit Lahiya, was put out of service on Monday as Israeli soldiers stormed a school and detained the men there before setting the facility ablaze. The fire reached the hospital generators, causing a power outage.
Al Jazeera’s Mahmoud said the solar panels on the rooftop were also damaged, “leaving the Indonesian Hospital without any source of power”, including for lifelines such as incubators.
Those evacuated from the Indonesian Hospital were displaced to Kamal Adwan Hospital, a mid-size facility struggling to accommodate patients beyond capacity.
The United Nations said it had been unable to reach all three hospitals in northern Gaza – Kamal Adwan, Indonesian and al-Awda Hospital – despite demanding access to allow aid in.
The UN Human Rights Office said it was “increasingly concerned that the manner in which the Israeli military is conducting hostilities” in northern Gaza, also with the “unlawful interference with humanitarian assistance and orders that are leading to forced displacement”.