Not content with starving to death the 2 million people of Gaza and dropping bombs on their squalid refugee camps, on 27 December the Israeli army made another step forward in its genocidal war on the Palestinians and put Kamal Adwan Hospital, the last major health facility in North Gaza, out of service.

As the World Health Organisation (WHO) said in a statement on the attack:

WHO is appalled by yesterday’s raid on Kamal Adwan Hospital, which put the last major health facility in North Gaza out of service. The systematic dismantling of the health system and a siege for over 80 days on North Gaza puts the lives of the 75,000 Palestinians remaining in the area at risk.

Since October 2023, WHO has repeatedly issued urgent calls to protect health workers and hospitals as per international humanitarian law —yet these calls remain unheard. Health facilities, workers and patients are always off limits. They must be actively protected and never be attacked, nor used for military purposes. The principles of precaution, distinction and proportionality under International Humanitarian Law are absolute and always apply.

However things look very different when seen from Israel.

According to a joint statement by the Israel Defence Forces and the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet), quoted by an article published the following day by the Jewish News Syndicate (JNS):

Despite repeated calls to refrain from allowing terrorists to exploit hospitals for military activities, IDF and Shin Bet intelligence identified that terrorists were once again using Kamal Adwan Hospital as a command center for its military operations in Jabalia. Following this intelligence, the IDF conducted and completed a targeted operation against the Hamas terror stronghold inside Kamal Adwan Hospital.

The article stated that “Security forces apprehended more than 240 terrorists in a targeted operation against a Hamas command center in Kamal Adwan Hospital”.

According the Guardian, local sources in Beit Lahia said that most of the medics and nurses detained in Friday’s raid had been released but the hospital’s director, Hussam Abu Safiya, was still unaccounted for.

Image credit: Kamal Adwan Hospital after an attack. Image by WHO