UN urges protection of Kamal Adwan hospital amid Israel's ongoing assault in northern Gaza

By Merve Aydogan

HAMILTON, Canada (AA) - The UN on Friday called for the protection of Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza amid Israel's relentless attacks.

"Kamal Adwan must be protected," UN deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said at a news conference. "It is the only minimally functional hospital providing trauma care in all of North Gaza".

Haq said the hospital "remains isolated due to hostilities in its vicinity."

With Israel's ongoing siege, Haq emphasized UN's "deep" concern over Israeli army's raid to the hospital and said it must also be protected from use of "military purposes and from attack by any party to the conflict."

Noting that UN agencies and its partners carried out a mission to Kamal Adwan Hospital, which took approximately 20 hours due to "long delays at checkpoints," Haq said that UN personnel were also held for some time at an Israeli checkpoint.

Haq stated that the mission transferred 23 patients and some healthcare workers from Kamal Adwan to Al-Shifa Hospital, providing fuel, medicine, blood, and surgical supplies.

Several medical staff members were injured when the Israeli army again targeted the Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahia, with artillery shelling and gunfire, and soldiers later stormed the health facility, damaging its critical life-saving equipment.

The Israeli army also bombed the hospital's main oxygen station, rendering it inoperable, medical sources told Anadolu.

The spokesman said that humanitarian needs are in "extremely short supply" in northern Gaza.

"The vast majority of attempts to deliver critical assistance continue to be denied or impeded," he said, and noted that Israeli authorities again "denied permission for the delivery of essential food and water supplies to Jabalya" today.

- Settler-related incidents

On the occupied West Bank, Haq said "more than 100 incidents linked to Israeli settlers have led to Palestinian casualties and property damage" in October.

"In October overall, there were some 180 settler-related incidents and almost 90 Palestinian communities across the West Bank, with more than half of these cases involving the olive harvest season," he said.

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.​​​​​​​