– They couldn’t go that far. Some had internal bleeding. But they insisted that they must go on foot. Nurse Mayssoun Alian describes what happened after Israeli soldiers on Friday attacked and besieged the Kamal Adwan hospital in northern Gaza, to the Reuters news agency. She says that the soldiers surrounded the hospital. Doctors and nurses were refused to leave the building. And the patients had to be moved to the reception. Pictures show badly injured people inside overcrowded rooms. Nurse Mayssoun Alian tells in a video about what happened when Israeli soldiers besieged the Kamal Adwan hospital in northern Gaza on Friday. Photo: Reuters Throughout the night, those in the hospital were confined. – The next morning we were surrounded from all sides. There was shooting in all directions with bombs and grenade launchers. They evacuated everyone who had sought refuge there, Alian continues. Captured after refusing to leave patients The nurse describes how men and women were separated. The men were dressed naked and taken away. – Around 70 male health workers were here. They were taken to the clinic outside. Then they started destroying things, says Alian, referring to the Israeli soldiers. A smashed ambulance lies upside down outside Kamal Adwan Hospital on Saturday. Photo: – / AFP 44 staff at the hospital were captured by the soldiers, health officials told Reuters. 14 have since been released. Also at the Al Awda hospital a few kilometers further south, there have been reports that health personnel have been captured. This office at the Kamal Adwan Hospital was missing a wall on Saturday. Photo: – / AFP Orthopedist Geir Stray Andreassen, who has been to Gaza several times through NORWAC, tells news that he has been in contact with health personnel from Doctors Without Borders and the World Health Organization. They say that orthopedist Mohammed Obaid is among those to be captured. news has previously mentioned that Obaid was among the doctors at the hospital who earlier in October refused to evacuate and leave their patients. Mohammed Obaid at the Al Awda hospital in northern Gaza. Photo: PrivatMohammed Obaid at the Al Awda hospital in northern Gaza. Photo: Privat It is also mentioned by Al Jazeera, among others on Facebook. news has asked the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) to confirm whether Obaid has been captured. They have replied that they are investigating the matter. Only hospital in the north The IDF claimed on X that they operated at Kamal Adwan after receiving “intelligence about terrorists and terrorist infrastructure in the area”. On Saturday, those soldiers left Kamal Adwan Hospital. Two ambulances at Kamal Adwan Hospital have been smashed as smoke rises from destroyed buildings, this picture shows on Saturday. Photo: – / AFP A short time later, the photos and witness accounts showed the extent of the damage. They show that walls are missing at the hospital, ambulances smashed and extensive damage to the buildings. At least two children in the intensive care unit died when Israeli strikes hit power generators and oxygen machines, health workers told Reuters. People mourn the bodies of their loved ones at the Kamal Adwan Hospital on Saturday. Photo: – / AFP Parts of the surrounding area are completely in ruins. Kamal Adwan Hospital is described as the only functioning hospital in northern Gaza, which has been cut off from the outside world since Israel began a new, extensive ground operation in the area on the night of October 6. UN: The entire population could die Several hundred thousand people have been trapped in the area without access to food, water and medicine. Now they are also without a hospital. Witnesses describe corpses and body parts in the streets and lawless conditions while people hide in bombed-out buildings. Two men stand among the rubble in the area around Kamal Awda Hospital. Photo: Stringer / Reuters Israel has been accused of trying to displace and starve the entire population. A part of what is described as “the generals’ plan”. – The entire population of northern Gaza is in danger of dying, says Joyce Msuya of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in a statement on X. Joyce Msuya is deputy head of the department for humanitarian affairs and emergency aid coordinator at the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Photo: Yuki Iwamura / AP She says that Israel must not be allowed to continue what they are doing in northern Gaza. – Such an obvious lack of respect for basic human dignity and the international law of war must stop, she emphasizes. At least 800 people have been killed in northern Gaza during the approximately three-week long Israeli offensive. Nearly 43,000 people have been killed in Gaza since the war began on October 7, according to the health ministry. The war started after Hamas attacked Israel. Around 1,200 people were killed and around 250 people were taken hostage. news has also asked the IDF to justify the attack and destruction on the hospital, that they have taken health personnel prisoner and to answer accusations that they are preventing the necessary humanitarian aid from arriving in northern Gaza. They have not responded to this inquiry. Interested in abroad? Listen to the foreign affairs editor’s podcast: Published 26.10.2024, at 20.01 Updated 26.10.2024, at 20.18
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