Israel’s Genocidal Policy to Destroy North Gaza Hospitals Unchecked amid International Inaction

PALESTINE - ISRAEL, 4 Nov 2024

Jews for Justice for Palestinians - TRANSCEND Media Service

23 Oct 2024 – Gaza-based NGO Al Mezan Issues Urgent Appeal

The Israeli military is currently besieging and targeting the three main hospitals in the North Gaza Governorate—Al-Awda Hospital, Kamal Adwan Hospital, and the Indonesian Hospital—ordering everyone inside to leave the facilities. Medical personnel, the wounded, sick patients, including children and newborns, women in labor, and their companions, are trapped inside.

The entire North Gaza Governorate has been under renewed Israeli displacement orders since 7 October 2024—when Israel unleashed a new wave of genocidal violence against Palestinians in northern Gaza. In a calculated effort to force the mass displacement of the approximately 400,000 Palestinians remaining in northern Gaza, Israel has also further tightened its siege on the area, starving the population and blocking medical supplies from reaching hospitals. On the streets of Jabaliya and Beit Lahiya are dozens of dead bodies and wounded, many of whom cannot be rescued or transported to hospitals to receive urgent, life-saving medical care.

The following information has been compiled by Al Mezan based on first-hand accounts and available information and is valid as of 22 October 2024. The situation is rapidly deteriorating, and unless the international community takes immediate action to stop Israel’s genocide in Gaza, we will soon be reporting the total collapse of these medical facilities.

Al Awda Hospital

Al-Awda Hospital, Jabaliya refugee camp

Al-Awda Hospital, located in the Tal al-Zatar area of the Jabaliya refugee camp, is currently under Israeli siege. The hospital was directly attacked by Israeli forces on 19 October 2024, when several artillery shells struck the second and third floors of the eastern building, damaging the internet network, parts of the solar power system, water tanks, and pipes on the roof. These two floors, which were being used as staff accommodations, are now out of service due to the ongoing risk of further attacks.

On the morning of 22 October 2024, Dr. Bakr Abu Safiya, Head of the Surgery Department at Al-Awda Hospital, told Al Mezan: “We are unable to leave the hospital buildings, which include two operational buildings—each five stories high—along with a building under construction. No one, not even injured individuals, patients, or staff, can access the hospital.” The medical staff still present at the hospitals include four obstetricians and gynecologists, one surgeon, two emergency doctors, two anesthesiologists, and a reduced number of nurses, who continue to provide critical care to those in need. Currently, Al-Awda Hospital is treating 35 wounded individuals and caring for nine women in labor.

Dr. Bakr Abu Safiya added: “At present, we are besieged, with dwindling power, no fuel for the generator, and critically low medical supplies—barely enough to meet even the most basic needs. The situation is extremely dangerous, with heavy artillery and aerial bombardment of Tal al-Zatar, and the nearly constant presence of Israeli surveillance drones, commonly known as quadcopters, hovering above the hospital.”

Indonesian Hospital, Beit Lahiya

The Indonesian Hospital is currently under Israeli siege, with 15 medical staff inside working to care for 30 wounded individuals, including two in critical condition. Two ICU patients already died due to power outages and a lack of oxygen resulting from the Israeli siege.

On the morning of 22 October 2024, Dr. Marwan Al-Sultan, the hospital’s Director, told Al Mezan: “On 19 October 2024, the Israeli military shelled the second and third floors of the hospital, with shrapnel scattering throughout the hospital and damaging the ceiling. Yesterday, they set fire to a nearby school, and there was a serious risk of the flames reaching our generators and solar tank, which are very close to the building. Thankfully, the fire extinguished itself without intervention. Had it spread, we would have faced a large fire and potential explosions.”

Dr. Al-Sultan added: “We are critically low on fuel and have not turned on the generators for the past three days. The last fuel delivery was nearly a week ago. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has been trying to reach us since yesterday, but they were denied access both yesterday and today. Food and water are running dangerously low. My colleagues found an old bag of flour stored in the hospital, which they used to bake bread. There is nothing else available. Before the siege of northern Gaza, we used to bring food supplies daily, but now we run out of everything.”

Dr. Al-Sultan also confirmed to Al Mezan that on 21 October 2024, the Israeli military approached the Indonesian Hospital and summoned Dr. Iyad Dakka, demanding detailed information about the facility. They specifically inquired about what is stored in the basement, as well as on the first and second floors, and the locations of the patients. After receiving this information, an Israeli soldier instructed Dr. Dakka to open all doors on the ground floor and photograph everything, warning that he would return. The soldier also declared the hospital a combat zone, ordering everyone to evacuate.

Earlier this morning, Israeli quadcopter drones dropped leaflets in Beit Lahiya saying:

“To all those present in shelters and hospitals: you are in a dangerous combat zone. For your safety, immediately move towards the Indonesian Hospital via Al-Awda and Beit Lahiya streets. Any movement in another direction may endanger your life!”

Kamal Adwan Hospital, Beit Lahiya

Kamal Adwan Hospital, the only hospital with a pediatric unit in northern Gaza, has been under siege since the beginning of this month, and it has been subjected to multiple Israeli attacks. For instance, at approximately 9:30 a.m. on 19 October 2024, Israeli warplanes bombed the courtyard of the hospital. At around 1:00 a.m. on the next day, 20 October 2024, Israeli warplanes bombed the area surrounding the hospital and fired at the hospital’s water tanks and electrical grid.

On 21 October 2024, Dr. Hossam Abu Safiya, the hospital’s Director, told Al Mezan: “The situation is catastrophic, with no available resources, medical supplies, or consumables. We are under total siege, with fuel, food, and medicine being blocked from entering. The Israeli military has prevented the World Health Organization (WHO) from delivering essential medical supplies, though they were allowed to evacuate a few patients. We are facing a genuine humanitarian disaster.”

Earlier today, Dr. Hossam Abu Safiya confirmed that Israeli forces are surrounding Kamal Adwan Hospital from all directions, ordering everyone to leave the hospital premises and surrounding adjacent residential areas using quadcopters. There are currently more than 150 patients, including children on ventilators and newborns in incubators, who cannot be evacuated. Following the deaths of two patients, Dr. Hossam Abu Saifya said that the hospital has been compelled to implement a priority treatment system. Many children in need of ventilators are left without access to life-saving equipment.

A Civil Defense ambulance officer said, “The medical staff [at Kamal Adwan Hospital] is limited, and the number of wounded from Jabaliya and Beit Lahiya far exceeds the hospital’s capacity. Anyone injured in the north is left bleeding to death. As ambulance officers, we do not know where to take the injured. Kamal Adwan Hospital can only accommodate a limited number of patients, but in northern Gaza, every minute, every second, people are being killed and injured. People cannot access cemeteries to bury their loved ones and are now forced to bury them in the streets. The situation is catastrophic. Our movement as civil defense and ambulance crews is severely restricted, as Israeli forces shoot at us while we attempt to evacuate the wounded.”

Conclusions

The escalation of attacks against three of the last remaining functioning hospitals in the northern governorates is part of Israel’s systematic and calculated campaign aimed at dismantling Gaza’s healthcare system. Just a few weeks ago, the UN Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel found that “Israel has implemented a concerted policy to destroy the health-care system of Gaza”.

Al Mezan contends that the systematic and calculated dismantling of Gaza’s healthcare system is a fundamental component of Israel’s genocide against the Palestinian people in Gaza aimed at shattering the institutions designed to save lives and sustain public health and at physically destroying the Palestinian population of Gaza, in whole or in part through deprivation of health care.

Unless the international community takes concrete actions to put an end to Israel’s genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, we will soon be reporting the total collapse of the three hospitals, the deaths of dozens of patients in intensive care, including children, and the abduction of medical personnel and internally displaced persons sheltering in these hospitals, who will be taken from Gaza and detained in Israeli torture camps.

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