Israeli army ends raid on Gaza's Kamal Adwan Hospital after arresting medics and patients

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Israeli troops on Saturday withdrew from the Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza, a day after storming the centre and arresting dozens of male medical staff and several male patients, the Palestinian news agency Wafa reported.

The raid caused extensive damage to buildings around the hospital and its compound, witnesses told Wafa. Workers, patients and displaced people sheltering at the hospital were denied food, water and medicine while it was occupied, a witness said. Photos taken after the raid showed heavy damage to some rooms and vehicles in the hospital compound, including ambulances.

Israeli forces arrested all male medical staff as well as some sick and wounded patients after storming the hospital compound, the Gaza Health Ministry said, while women were held in a room inside the hospital.

At least 44 of the medical centre's 70-member team were detained by the army, but 14 including the hospital director were later released, Reuters reported, citing medics.

At least two children died in the intensive care unit after the hospital’s generators stopped and the oxygen station was hit on Friday, the Health Ministry said.

The attack on Kamal Adwan, northern Gaza’s last functioning hospital, came as Israel pressed on with its 22-day siege in the north of the enclave, which UN human rights chief Volker Turk called “one of the darkest moments” of the conflict.

Dr Hussam Abu Safiya, the head of the hospital, said on Thursday that all of its departments had come under direct shelling, describing the situation as extremely “tragic and terrifying”. “Instead of receiving aid, we are receiving tanks,” he said in a video statement.

The Israeli military said it was operating near the hospital because militants were in the area.

Late on Friday, World Health Organisation director general Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said three health workers and another employee had been injured and 44 detained, with four ambulances damaged.

Kamal Adwan “is still under siege, but we managed to get in touch with the staff”, Dr Tedros said on X, after an earlier post about losing communication with the staff. He said the WHO and partner agencies had reached the hospital late on Wednesday night and transferred 23 patients and 26 caregivers to the Palestinian territory's main Al Shifa Hospital.

“Kamal Adwan Hospital has been overflowing with close to 200 patients – a constant stream of horrific trauma cases,” he said on X. “We urge for hospitals, health workers and patients to be protected. Ceasefire!”

The siege and attacks on health workers occurred only hours after the WHO-led mission delivered essential supplies to keep the centre operational and took critical patients to Al Shifa Hospital, he said.