At least 47 people were killed in overnight Israeli air strikes on the central Gaza city of Deir Al Balah, the nearby Nuseirat refugee camp and the town of Al Zawaida.
Aerial attacks hit several homes in Nuseirat, including those sheltering families displaced from elsewhere in Gaza. Many of the victims were women and children, Palestinian news agency Wafa reported. Search and rescue operations are under way to find people trapped under rubble.
Residents rushed to help people caught in initial strikes, only to be hit by subsequent bombings, witnesses told the agency. Bodies and injured people were taken to Al Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, medical staff said.
“It is the only functioning hospital in central Gaza but it is overwhelmed,” Dr Khaleel Al Dagran, a spokesman for the facility, told The National. “With only 200 beds, it now hosts over 600 patients, and tents have been set up outside for emergency care. Staff have been forced to treat many injured patients on the floor of the reception area.”
More than 43,000 people have been killed in Gaza since the war between Israel and Hamas broke out last October, with more than 100,000 injured. The latest strikes on central Gaza came after Israel on Thursday launched an attack on the Kamal Adwan Hospital in the north of the enclave, injuring several staff members and damaging recently delivered life-saving supplies.
Israel has accused Hamas of using the hospital in the city of Beit Lahia for military purposes and said “dozens of terrorists” were hiding there. Gaza health officials and Hamas deny the accusation.
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“The strike set on fire a medicine and medical supplies storage area, which had recently been restocked by the World Health Organisation after numerous urgent appeals,” Kamal Adwan Hospital nursing director Eid Sabbah told The National.
“The flames destroyed vital supplies, leaving nothing to help stabilise injured patients. Medical teams sustained minor burns and injuries while trying to contain the fire.”
He called for international intervention to support the healthcare system in northern Gaza, which he said was unable to provide life-saving treatment amid mounting casualties and a lack of ambulances and emergency personnel.
The World Health Organisation condemned the attack on Kamal Adwan, while medical charity Doctors Without Borders voiced concern for one of its medics detained by Israeli forces at the site. WHO director general Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on X that the attack also hit a desalination station and water tanks on top of the building.
“The hospital has been barely functioning since the most recent raid. The latest attack is putting patients' lives at grave risk,” he said. “The health situation in northern Gaza is appalling. We call on everyone to protect hospitals and fully comply with international humanitarian law.”
Last week, Israeli troops raided Kamal Adwan, causing extensive damage and detaining medical staff. Israeli forces began a siege of northern Gaza more than three weeks ago, blocking the entry of aid and medical assistance. Israel has said its goal is to eradicate the operational infrastructure of Hamas.
Elsewhere in the north, Israel dropped leaflets on the city of Jabalia on Friday telling people to flee south away from the violence. But Mohammed Al Jamal, a 25-year-old resident of the area, told The National he would stay, despite daily bombings and drone attacks targeting “anyone who moves”.
“We are determined to stay on our land,” he said. “We are living in terror in Jabalia and its surroundings, as the occupation insists on displacing us by any means. We have been under siege with no access to food, water or medical care for nearly a month. My younger brother was severely injured four days ago while searching for drinkable water.”
Nisreen Hameed, a resident in nearby Beit Lahia, where at least 93 people were killed on Tuesday when Israeli air strikes hit a five-storey residential building, told The National that local streets were filled with people displaced by bombings or eviction orders.
“Israeli vehicles relentlessly advance, spreading fear, particularly in our area,” he said. “We wake up in the middle of the night terrified and flee our homes in search of safer areas.”
