Fears for Kamal Adwan patients forced to leave hospital after Israeli raid

Gaza Health Ministry voices concern over lack of essentials and protection from winter cold

Wounded Palestinians evacuated from Kamal Adwan hospital arrive at Al Ahli Al Arabi hospital in Gaza city. Reuters

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Patients from Gaza's Kamal Adwan Hospital are facing "dire and deteriorating conditions" after being evicted by the Israeli military, the Palestinian enclave's health ministry said on Saturday.

The ministry said it lost contact with the hospital during the raid on Friday but there were about 350 people inside at the time, including 75 patients and 180 medical staff and workers.

The World Health Organisation said later that 60 health workers and 25 patients in critical condition reportedly remain in the hospital. "The patients in moderate to severe condition were forced to evacuate to the destroyed and non-functional Indonesian Hospital. WHO is deeply concerned for their safety," it said in a post on X.

“A harsh night passed for the patients and injured individuals forcibly evacuated to the Indonesian Hospital last night. They are in dire and deteriorating conditions, lacking water, electricity, blankets, food, and essential supplies, with the countdown to losing their lives already under way,” the health ministry said on Saturday.

It said the Israel's military was holding most of Kamal Adwan's medical staff to prevent them from joining the patients at the Indonesian Hospital, which was destroyed when Israeli troops raided it on Tuesday.

The courtyard of Kamal Adwan hospital and its surrounding buildings in Beit Lahia following an Israeli attack on December 25. Anadolu

Israel had demanded the evacuation of the hospitals in the town of Beit Lahia after launching military operations in northern Gaza in October, its latest offensive in a war that has devastated the Palestinian territory and displaced most of its population, leaving residents without basic facilities and dependent on humanitarian aid. Most of the territory's hospitals have been destroyed or damaged in attacks by the Israeli military, which claims that the militants use them as a base to launch attacks.

Some of those forced to leave Kamal Adwan, the last functioning health facility in northern Gaza, said they were forced to walk about 8 kilometres south to Gaza city under military escort.

“We were monitored throughout by a military jeep in front of us and another behind us until we were left near Gaza city,” Shorouq Al Rantisi, a nurse, told The National. “We have no knowledge of what happened to the other individuals who were in the hospital. However, around 25 to 30 people were taken by the army, and no one knows their fate.”

She said the soldiers used loudspeakers to order the injured who could walk to leave the hospital. “Later, some of the medical staff and I left, walking a very long distance on foot."

Maha Masoud, 28, who had taken shelter in the hospital amid Israel's attacks on northern Gaza, said that along the way the soldiers ordered the women to remove their headscarves and the men to undress.

“Those who refused to undress were beaten, and our mobile phones were confiscated. This happened to both men and women, with soldiers mocking us, laughing, and recording videos on their phones," Ms Al Rantisi said.

Ms Masoud said the winter cold made the journey almost unbearable.

"None of us were dressed warmly because the army’s raid caught us off guard. The situation was chaotic, and fear filled the air, leaving us no time to put on warm clothes or take blankets with us,” she said.

The harsh weather has made the plight of Gazans, already coping with a sharp drop in aid deliveries since October, even more dire. Health officials said at least five people had died a result of the cold as of Friday. They include four infants less than a month old, and a young man who was found lifeless in his tent in Al Mawasi, Khan Younis.

Ahmed Al Farra, head of the paediatrics department at Nasser Medical Hospital in Khan Younis, warned that the toll could rise.

“With plummeting temperatures and the dire conditions Palestinians face in displacement shelters, compounded by a lack of heating resources, the situation is growing increasingly critical,” Dr Al Farra said in a statement.

Tamim Marouf, six, sits inside his family's tent alongside his sister Hala, 10, and his brother Malek, four, at a camp for internally displaced Palestinians on the beachfront in Deir Al Balah, central Gaza Strip, on December 27. AP Photo

"The situation is unbearably difficult, especially with this cold wave," said Mohammad Al Shanabari, 52, who was displaced from Beit Lahia to Al Yarmouk Camp in Gaza city.

"While there hasn’t been much rain, the biting cold is consuming us completely. I fear for our lives, especially the children and the elderly who are particularly vulnerable,” he told The National.

“We try to stay warm in the tent, lighting fires whenever we can, but it’s pointless. The tent feels like a death trap, completely unfit for human survival.”

Ten people are crammed into the small tent in which his family lives in. Water enters when it rains, and the cold seeps in whenever the weather is chilly.

“I have a six-month-old grandson, and despite all our efforts to keep him warm, he remains cold. The situation is incredibly hard on him, and we fear losing him at any moment,” said Mr Al Shanabari, whose family arrived at the camp about a month and a half ago after the army forced them to evacuate their homes in Beit Lahia.

The Israeli military continued its operations in northern Gaza on Saturday with raids in the town of Beit Hanoun, following air strikes and artillery fire overnight.

The war in Gaza began after Palestinian militants led by Hamas attacked southern Israel in October last year, killing about 1,200 people and taking about 250 hostage. The war has killed more than 45,400 people in Gaza and injured more than 108,000, according to the health ministry.