A Palestinian man inspects the site of an Israeli strike on Al-Wafaa hospital, according to the Palestinian civil defense, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Gaza City, December 29, 2024.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

The head of the World Health Organization on Monday (December 30, 2024) called for an end to attacks on hospitals in Gaza after Israel struck one and raided another in the past few days.

“Hospitals in Gaza have once again become battlegrounds and the health system is under severe threat,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a post on X.

“We repeat: stop attacks on hospitals. People in Gaza need access to health care. Humanitarians need access to provide health aid. Ceasefire!” he added.

The Israeli military said Hamas militants were the targets of a strike on Gaza City’s Al Wafa hospital on Sunday, which the Palestinian civil defence said killed seven people.

Israeli forces also detained more than 240 Palestinians including dozens of medical staff from Kamal Adwan hospital on Friday, among them its director Hussam Abu Safiya, according to health authorities in the enclave and Israel’s military.

The Israeli military said the hospital was being used as a command centre for Hamas military operations and those arrested were suspected militants. It said Abu Safiya was taken for questioning as he was suspected of being a Hamas operative.

Tedros, who last week was caught up in an Israeli strike against Yemen’s main airport that he said might have cost him his life, called for Abu Safiya’s immediate release and said the Al-Ahli hospital had also faced attacks.

Tedros said the WHO and partners had delivered basic medical supplies, food and water to Gaza’s Indonesian hospital and transferred 10 critical patients to Al Shifa hospital. Four patients were detained during the transfer, he said.

“We urge Israel to ensure their health care needs and rights are upheld,” Tedros said.

At least 45,514 Palestinians have been killed and 108,189 wounded in Israel’s military offensive in Gaza since the Hamas attacks of Oct. 7, 2023, according to Gaza’s health ministry.

A fire burns as seen through a window from Kamal Adwan hospital, during the ongoing Israeli military operation, amid Israel-Hamas conflict, in Beit Lahiya, in the northern Gaza Strip, December 18, 2024.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

An official from one of only two functioning hospitals in northern Gaza told AFP on Monday that Israeli forces were continuing to target his facility and urged the international community to intervene before “it is too late.”

Hossam Abu Safiyeh, director of Kamal Adwan hospital in the city of Beit Lahia, described the situation at the medical facility as “extremely dangerous and terrifying” owing to shelling by Israeli forces.

An Israeli military spokesman denied that the hospital was being targeted.

“I am unaware of any strikes on Kamal Adwan hospital,” he told AFP.

Safiyeh reported that the hospital, which is currently treating 91 patients, had been targeted on Monday by Israeli drones.

“This morning, drones dropped bombs in the hospital’s courtyards and on its roof,” said Safiyeh in a statement.

“The shelling, which also destroyed nearby houses and buildings, did not stop throughout the night.”

The shelling and bombardment have caused extensive damage to the hospital, Safiyeh added.

“Bullets hit the intensive care unit, the maternity ward, and the specialised surgery department causing fear among patients,” he said, adding that a generator was also targeted.

“The world must understand that our hospital is being targeted with the intent to kill and forcibly displace the people inside.

“We face a constant threat every day. The shelling continues from all directions… The situation is extremely critical and requires urgent international intervention before it is too late,” he said.

On Sunday, Safiyeh said he received orders to evacuate the hospital, but the military denied issuing such directives.

Located in Beit Lahia, the hospital is one of only two still operational in northern Gaza.

The area has been the focus of an intense air and ground campaign by Israeli forces since October 6, aimed at prevent Hamas from regrouping.

Most of the dead and injured from the offensive are brought to Kamal Adwan and Al-Awda hospitals.

The United Nations and other organisations have repeatedly decried the worsening humanitarian conditions in Gaza, particularly in the north, since the latest military offensive began.

Rights groups have consistently appealed for hospitals to be protected and for the urgent delivery of medical aid and fuel to keep the facilities running.

Israeli officials have accused Hamas militants of using the hospitals as command and control centres to plan attacks against the military.

The war in Gaza broke out on October 7 last year after Hamas militants launched an attack on southern Israel that resulted in the deaths of 1,208 people on the Israeli side, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.

Israel’s retaliatory military offensive in Gaza has killed at least 45,259 people, a majority of them civilians, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry, figures the UN says are reliable.