UPDATES WITH MORE DETAILS; EDITS THROUGH
By Mustafa Haboush
GAZA CITY, Palestine (AA) - Several medical staff members were injured when the Israeli army again targeted the Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahia, northern Gaza, with artillery shelling and gunfire on Friday, and the army forces later stormed the health facility, damaging its critical life-saving equipment.
Medical sources told Anadolu that several healthcare workers at the hospital were injured in the Israeli artillery shelling and gunfire directed at the facility.
The army also bombed the hospital's main oxygen station, rendering it inoperable, they added.
The same sources reported that Israeli forces stormed the hospital hours after it was attacked with artillery shelling and gunfire.
The Health Ministry in the enclave also said the Israeli army has detained hundreds of patients, medical staff, and displaced individuals at Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza after storming the facility.
The ministry further noted that Kamal Adwan Hospital is running critically low on food, medicine, and medical supplies, making the situation within the hospital "catastrophic in every sense."
In a related incident, Ramy Abdu, the head of the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor, noted on X: “The occupation army has abducted social media activist Aboud Batah from Kamal Adwan Hospital, subjecting him to mistreatment before taking him to an undisclosed location, raising serious concerns for his life."
Batah is considered one of the prominent figures reporting on the Israeli war in Gaza through social media platforms.
Earlier on Thursday, Munir Al-Bursh, the director-general of Gaza's Health Ministry, told Anadolu that "patients and injured are living in a state of terror due to the Israeli targeting of Kamal Adwan Hospital and its surroundings in northern Gaza, where the Israeli army has been committing acts of mass extermination for 20 days."
Meanwhile, the Israeli army's ground incursions and bombardments continue across northern Gaza, as the forces push for forced displacement of Palestinians.
Israel has continued a devastating offensive on Gaza since an attack 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.
Israel faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its actions in Gaza.
* Writing by Ikram Kouachi.