UPDATES WITH MORE DETAILS
By Ahmed Asmar
ANKARA (AA) – The Israeli army on Tuesday stormed the Kamal Adwan Hospital in the northern Gaza Strip after besieging it for several days, a Health Ministry official said.
According to Ashraf al-Qudra, a spokesman for the Gaza-based ministry, the Israeli army is assembling Palestinian men, including the health staff, on the hospital grounds.
He expressed fear that they would be subject to arrest or execution.
"We urge the UN, World Health Organization and Red Cross to immediately act to save the people inside the hospital and to protect it,” al-Qudra added.
For his part, Hospital Director Ahmad al-Kahlout said three children had died inside the facility over the past three days due to lack of oxygen.
"There is no water, electricity, or medical supplies in the hospital and the conditions are very difficult. We are currently unable to perform surgical operations,” he told Anadolu.
“Lack of enough food and drinking water puts the lives of patients at risk,” he warned.
According to Kahlout, there are around 60 injured people, 12 children and 100 medics inside the hospital, along with more than 3,000 displaced people taking shelter inside the facility.
On Monday, Gaza’s Health Ministry said the Israeli army slapped a siege around the hospital in Beit Lahia city.
“The lives of patients at the hospital are at risk,” the ministry warned in the statement.
Israel has bombarded the Gaza Strip from the air and land, imposed a siege and mounted a ground offensive in retaliation for a cross-border attack by Palestinian group Hamas on Oct. 7.
At least 18,412 Palestinians have been killed and 50,100 others injured in the relentless Israeli attacks since then, according to Gaza’s health authorities.
The Israeli death toll in the Hamas attack stood at 1,200, according to official figures.
Envoys of the UN Security Council urged an end to the conflict in the Gaza Strip on Monday as they visited the Egyptian side of the Rafah border crossing, the enclave’s only entry point for aid.
*Mahmoud Barakat contributed to this report from Ankara