Israel destroys last northern Gaza hospital: Where can Palestinians turn?

As 2024 draws to a close, marked by bloody wars from Palestine to Lebanon, Ukraine to Sudan, Gaza remains a focal point of destruction.

The latest attack by what Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu calls “the most moral army in the world” targeted Kamal Adwan Hospital, the last operational hospital in northern Gaza.

“Initial reports indicate that some key departments were severely burnt and destroyed during the raid,” the World Health Organization (WHO) stated on X. Key facilities, including the laboratory, surgical units, and medical stores, were rendered inoperable.

The hospital’s director, Hussam Abu Safiya—who recently lost his son to Israeli forces—was detained during the raid. Despite calls from WHO and human rights groups for his immediate release, the Israeli government has not commented on his condition.

“Kamal Adwan was the last hospital serving northern Gaza. It used to provide services to citizens. Its destruction means there are now no functioning hospitals in the area,” said Sami Barhoum, a Gaza-based Palestinian journalist.

WHO spokeswoman Margaret Harris described the attack as part of “the systematic dismantling of the health system in northern Gaza,” which has been under siege for more than a year. The assault endangers tens of thousands of Palestinians, Harris warned.

From Kamal Adwan to Al-Ouda and the Indonesian hospitals, all major health facilities in northern Gaza have been “completely destroyed by Israel,” Barhoum told TRT World.

“The goal is to ensure no health facilities remain to help people survive,” he said, describing what he believes is an effort to force Palestinians to leave Gaza.

‘Leave or Die’

Despite its crucial role in serving the besieged and decimated region, the Kamal Adwan hospital faced destruction.

The predawn rumble of Israeli tanks outside the hospital signalled yet another raid in Gaza’s relentless siege. Loudspeakers ordered the evacuation of patients, medical staff, and displaced families sheltering there, marking the end of northern Gaza’s last operational health facility.

Witnesses reported Israeli forces demanding the hospital director exit the building under duress, following which male patients and staff were ordered to strip in freezing conditions. They were marched to an Israeli checkpoint, photographed, and assigned numbers scratched onto their skin for identification. Some of them, as a routine practice by the Israeli army, were detained for interrogation.

Women and children also faced degrading treatment, with women reportedly dragged “by the head” to search areas. Those who resisted were beaten, according to Shrouq al-Rantisi, a laboratory nurse.

“[Israelis] shouted at us, demanding we remove our headscarves,” al-Rantisi said during an Al Jazeera interview. “We could hear the men being beaten and tortured. It was unbearable,” she added.

The raid epitomised the systematic dismantling of Gaza’s healthcare infrastructure amidst global silence. Survivors recounted brutal beatings, even of the injured, as Israeli forces interrogated detainees.

A campaign against Gaza’s healthcare

The destruction of Kamal Adwan Hospital is part of a broader campaign targeting healthcare infrastructure in Gaza. The forced evacuation left many patients without adequate care.

The WHO expressed grave concern for their safety. Some patients were relocated to the severely damaged Indonesian Hospital, while others sought refuge at the Al-Ahli Arab Hospital in southern Gaza, which has also been targeted by Israeli strikes.

The fate of those detained during the raid remains uncertain. According to the Israeli army, 240 Palestinians were moved into Israeli territory, but there has been no update on the whereabouts of Abu Safia, who was committed for the functionality of Kamal Adwan to the very end.

According to Barhoum, major hospitals, including Yousef al-Najjar Hospital in Khan Younis, Nasser Medical Complex in Deir al-Balah, and al-Shifa and al-Rantisi Hospitals, have faced similar fates at the hands of Israeli army during their genocidal campaign against Palestinians in Gaza and West Bank.

Over 1,000 healthcare workers, including prominent doctors such as Adnan Al-Bursh, have been killed during the ongoing genocide.

For those in Gaza, the loss of Kamal Adwan Hospital compounded the betrayal of international inaction, following over a year of unrelenting Israeli attacks that have claimed more than 45,000 Palestinian lives and left an already suffering population with nowhere to turn.