By Hosni Nadim
GAZA CITY, Palestine (AA) - The Israeli army raided the Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza on Friday, detaining its director for interrogation, according to a Palestinian official.
"The Israeli forces raided the Kamal Adwan Hospital, northern Gaza, and ordered its director Hussam Abu Safiya to go to the hospital's yard to meet the commander of the (Israeli) invading force for interrogation," Maher Shamiyeh, the assistant undersecretary for Gaza's health ministry, told Anadolu.
Shamiyeh said that the Israeli army is holding all patients and medical staff inside a room in the hospital, with no information about their fate.
The Israeli army detained dozens of Palestinians evacuated from the hospital, forcing them to strip down to their boxer shorts and gather in an open area in cold weather.
Shamiyeh urged the international organizations and UN "to immediately intervene to protect the health staff and patients, and to pressure on the Israeli army to withdraw from the hospitals in northern Gaza."
Earlier, the Health Ministry said that it lost contact with the health staff in Kamal Adwan Hospital following the Israeli army's incursion.
In a statement earlier, the Israeli army claimed that its forces “are operating in the area of the Kamal Adwan Hospital in Jabalia, based on intelligence information regarding the presence of terrorists and terrorist infrastructure in the area.”
Israel has continued a devastating offensive on Gaza since an attack in October of last year by the Palestinian resistance group, Hamas, despite a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire.
More than 42,800 people have since been killed, mostly women and children, and over 100,500 others injured, according to local health authorities.
The Israeli onslaught has displaced almost the territory’s entire population amid an ongoing blockade that has led to severe shortages of food, clean water, and medicine.
Israel faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its actions in Gaza.
*Writing by Ahmed Asmar