By Mustafa Haboush
GAZA CITY, Palestine (AA) – A Palestinian doctor has accused the Israeli army of killing medics and displaced people in attacks on the Al-Awda Hospital in the northern Gaza Strip as part of its offensive on the enclave earlier this month.
The Israeli army has slapped a siege around the hospital and ordered its evacuation. Several members of the medical staff were detained, including the hospital’s director, Ahmed Muhanna.
The Israeli siege has forced the facility out of service amid a severe shortage of medicines.
“We have not left the hospital since the first day of the Israeli war,” Baker Abu Safiyyeh, a surgeon, told Anadolu. “Most of the medics and employees have not left the facility until today.”
The Palestinian doctor said there are currently around 97 medical personnel at the hospital along with four displaced families taking shelter near the facility.
“No medical aid, food or fuel were allowed into the hospital amid tough conditions,” Abu Safiyyeh said. “The Israeli army has slapped a crippling siege around the hospital for 18 days.”
The Palestinian doctor recalled that Israeli fighter jets had struck the third floor of the hospital during its siege around the facility.
“Three medics and a relative of a patient were killed in the attack, while two nurses working for medical charity Doctors Without Borders were injured,” he added.
The doctor recalled that Israeli forces ordered all males inside the facility to strip down to their underwear clothes.
“Most of the males inside the hospital were arrested by Israeli forces, including the hospital’s director,” he added.
“Among those detained were four displaced people and one patient, while the rest were members of the medical staff,” he added.
The Israeli army launched relentless air and ground attacks on the Gaza Strip in retaliation for a cross-border attack by Hamas, in which nearly 1,200 Israelis are believed to have been killed.
At least 21,110 Palestinians have since been killed and 55,243 others injured, according to local health authorities in the enclave.
The Israeli onslaught has left Gaza in ruins, with 60% of the enclave's infrastructure damaged or destroyed and nearly 2 million people displaced amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicines.
*Writing by Ahmed Asmar