Gaza’s Kamal Adwan Hospital Attacked without Warning: WHO

Gaza, MINA – The World Health Organization (WHO) said the Israeli occupation army gave no warning of the attack on the Kamal Adwan Hospital that killed four of its medical staff, Palinfo reported.

WHO spokesman Richard Peeperkorn said “there was no official warning or evacuation order before the bombing … of the hospital, just rumours spreading panic.”

This comes just a week after WHO facilitated the entry of an Indonesian emergency medical delegation into the hospital for the first time in 60 days. The facility has run out of most supplies, including fuel.

Peeperkorn said the fact that the attack on the hospital came after Israeli authorities had allowed the medical delegation to enter was deeply disturbing for staff and patients.

“Within a week, they felt forced, scared, whatever it was, to leave,” Peeperkorn told a news conference in Geneva. “That is very concerning and should not happen.”

The hospital was “very poorly functioning”, he said. According to the WHO, some 12,000 patients in Gaza require medical evacuation but only 78 have been evacuated so far.

The Gaza Health Ministry said three main hospitals in northern Gaza were barely functioning and had been hit repeatedly since Israel sent tanks into the northern towns of Beit Lahiya and Beit Hanoun and nearby Jabalia in October.

The ministry on Friday accused the Israeli military of committing “war crimes” at Kamal Adwan Hospital by committing “all forms of killing and violence in and around it”.

“The wounded who are still inside are in critical condition and require immediate medical attention,” it added. (T/RE1/P2)

Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)