Palestinian health minister calls Israeli attack on Gaza hospital a ‘war crime’

By Aysar Alais

RAMALLAH, Jerusalem (AA) - Israel’s targeting of the Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza is a “war crime and a significant violation of human rights,” Palestinian Health Minister Majid Abu Ramadan said on Saturday, following an Israeli military assault on the facility.

The Israeli army reportedly withdrew from the hospital after inflicting severe damage. Kamal Adwan is one of the few remaining medical centers serving northern Gaza, where over 820 Palestinians have been killed in a 22-day military operation that Gaza officials describe as a “campaign of genocide and ethnic cleansing,” according to the Gaza Government Media Office.

“The Israeli targeting of Kamal Adwan Hospital—its siege, gunfire directed at it, the arrest of medical staff, including several wounded patients, and the prevention of medical aid from reaching it—constitutes a war crime and a significant violation of human rights,” Abu Ramadan said in a statement.

The minister condemned what he described as a systematic assault on Gaza’s health infrastructure. "Israeli forces have committed all forms of violation and destruction against all components of the health system in Gaza, setting the health situation back by decades," he added.

Abu Ramadan reiterated his “urgent call to the entire world to stop the Israeli occupation's aggression against our people and our collapsing health system,” warning that “the lives of thousands of patients and wounded individuals are in great danger.”

Flouting a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire, Israel has continued a devastating offensive on Gaza since an attack last year by the Palestinian resistance group Hamas.

Nearly 43,000 people have since been killed, mostly women and children, and over 100,000 others injured, according to local health authorities.

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its actions in Gaza.

*Writing by Rania Abu Shamala in Istanbul