Medics, civilians, patients under Israeli siege at Kamal Adwan, Awda hospitals in northern Gaza Strip

As Israel’s unprecedented military operation in northern Gaza continues, the Occupation is destroying the healthcare system in the north. 

On Wednesday, it continued a siege it has imposed in recent days on both the Awda and Kamal Adwan hospitals, whose directors described to Mada Masr relentless shelling and shooting which they said targeted anyone moving in or around the hospitals, critically endangering the lives of patients, medics and civilians taking shelter inside.

Amid Israel’s campaign, which is in its third week, around 60,000 Palestinians have been forcibly displaced from their homes and shelters from North Gaza to Gaza City, according to the United Nations.

Dr. Mohamed Salha, director of the Awda Hospital in northern Gaza, told Mada Masr on Wednesday that the Occupation has prevented anyone from entering or leaving, completely besieging the hospital, and targeting people inside of it as well as anyone who approaches its windows.

The hospital has been under continuous attack for several days, he said. Salha also reported receiving numerous messages about bodies and injured people left on the ground in Jabalia and Beit Lahia, but said ambulances are currently unable to reach them. Residents and eyewitness accounts from both areas have described mass-casualty incidents to Mada Masr in recent days at sites which they said paramedics were unable to approach due to ongoing Israeli fire.

“This is the third time the hospital has been besieged since the beginning of the aggression,” Salha said, expressing fear of an imminent raid on the facility which he said would result in a massacre on the crowded premises.

He also noted that the World Health Organization has been unable to deliver supplies or arrange for the evacuation of critical cases. Currently, he said, six patients are in urgent need of immediate transfer.

Israeli artillery shelling targeting the hospital has destroyed two floors designated for patient accommodation, he said, as well as the hospital's water tanks, adding that food supplies have run out and that people inside are surviving on one single and very small meal per day. 

Director of the Kamal Adwan Hospital Dr. Hossam Abu Safiyeh told Mada Masr on Wednesday that medical supplies at his facility have been completely depleted, leaving medical staff unable to provide medical care to patients and the wounded. Safiyeh said the hospital is currently overwhelmed with over 150 critically injured patients.

He urged for the opening of a safe corridor to deliver fuel and medical supplies “before it is too late,” while Salha called on the WHO to act immediately to deliver medical supplies and fuel to the Awda Hospital and other hospitals in northern Gaza.

The Occupation has made hospitals a primary target as part of its plan to forcibly displace northern Gaza’s residents, Safiyeh said. 

The Kamal Adwan hospital has run out of shrouds for the dead and staff  have been forced to use blankets instead, he said, adding that several medical staff members have also been killed in the ongoing aggression, including Dr. Mohamed Ghanem, who was shot by an Israeli drone on Wednesday.

Citizens taking shelter in the Kamal Adwan Hospital are also under threat due to the siege and intense shooting and artillery shelling by the Israeli military, said Safiyeh. 

“Anything that moves in the hospital’s vicinity is targeted,” and the hospital is full of patients, displaced individuals, and medical staff “who are all besieged with their lives in danger,” he said, adding that there are still many patients in critical condition who cannot be evacuated, and staff will not evacuate and leave the injured.

The hospital’s director warned of the risk that the Israeli military may storm the hospital with many people still inside it, as it has done at other hospitals in the strip on prior occasions.