Israeli forces raided Kamal Adwan Hospital, one of three medical facilities on the northern edge of the Gaza Strip, on Friday, prompting the evacuation of dozens of patients and hundreds of others and leaving part of the site in flames, health ministry officials said.
Elsewhere in Gaza, Israeli strikes killed at least 25 people, including 15 in a single house in Gaza City, medics and the civilian rescue service said.
The Palestinian Health Ministry said it had lost contact with staff at the hospital in Beit Lahiya, which has been under intense pressure from Israeli forces for weeks.
“The occupation forces are now in the hospital and burning it down,” ministry director Munir Al-Bursh said in a statement.
The Israeli military said it tried to limit damage to civilians and “enabled the safe evacuation of civilians, patients and medical personnel before the operation,” but did not provide details.
A statement said fighters from Hamas, which previously controlled the Gaza Strip, had operated from the hospital throughout the current war, making the site a key stronghold.
Youssef Abu El-Rish, the Hamas-appointed deputy health minister, said Israeli forces set fire to the surgical department, laboratory and a warehouse.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said a small fire broke out in an empty building inside the hospital and was under control. “As for the claims that the fire was caused by IDF gunfire, the IDF is currently not aware of any such incidents,” it said.
Like the Indonesian and Al-Awda hospitals, Kamal Adwan has been repeatedly attacked by Israeli forces, which have been attacking the northern edge of the Gaza Strip for weeks, Palestinian medical workers say.
Hundreds had to leave the hospital in the north of the Gaza Strip
Bursh, the ministry director, said the army had ordered 350 people to leave Kamal Adwan and go to a nearby school housing displaced families. These included 75 patients, their companions and 185 medical staff.
Abu El-Rish said soldiers were taking patients and medical staff to the Indonesian hospital, which had already been put out of action by severe damage and was evacuated by Israeli forces a day earlier.
Footage circulated in Palestinian and Arab media, which Reuters could not immediately verify, showed smoke rising from the area of Kamal Adwan.
Large parts of the area around the northern towns of Jabalia, Beit Hanoun and Beit Lahiya have been cleared of people and razed, fueling speculation that Israel intends to maintain the area as a closed buffer zone after the fighting in Gaza ends.
Israel says its campaign aims to prevent Hamas fighters from regrouping but that it will retain full security control of Gaza after the war.
On Thursday, health officials said five medical workers, including a pediatrician, were killed by an Israeli fire in Kamal Adwan. The Israeli military said it was unaware of an attack on the hospital and would review the report into the medics’ deaths.
In a statement, Hamas blamed Israel and the United States for the fate of the hospital inmates.
Israel’s campaign against Hamas in Gaza has killed more than 45,300 Palestinians, according to health officials in the enclave. Most of the 2.3 million residents have been displaced and much of the Gaza Strip lies in ruins.
The war was triggered by a Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, in which, according to Israel, around 1,200 people were killed and 251 were taken hostage to Gaza.
