 "Israeli army soldiers stand guard as Israeli Jewish settlers tour the old market in the city of Hebron in the occupied West Bank on December 28, 2024. Image- AFP")
Israel’s military said Saturday it had arrested over 240 terrorists and a raid on what it called “a Hamas command centre” in a north Gaza hospital. During the operation, the military detained the hospital’s director, accusing him of being a Hamas operative.
“The IDF (military) and ISA (security agency) completed a targeted operation against a Hamas command centre in the Kamal Adwan Hospital… the forces apprehended over 240 terrorists in the area,” the military said in a statement, adding that the hospital director, Hossam Abu Safiyeh, suspected of “being a Hamas terrorist operative”, had been detained for questioning.
Israel’s nearly 15-month-old campaign of bombardment and ground offensives has devastated Gaza’s health sector. The World Health Organization has said the raid on Kamal Adwan has put northern Gaza’s last major health facility “out of service" after growing restrictions on access, adding that “this horror must end and health care must be protected.”
The Health Ministry said conditions for Kamal Adwan patients who were relocated to the damaged Indonesian Hospital nearby — also raided in the past — were “extremely difficult.”
The war has killed more than 45,400 Palestinians, over half of them women and children, and wounded more than 108,000 others, according to the Health Ministry. Its count does not distinguish between civilians and combatants.
Since October, Israel’s offensive has virtually sealed off the northern Gaza areas of Jabaliya, Beit Hanoun and Beit Lahiya and leveled large parts of them. Tens of thousands of Palestinians were forced out but thousands are believed to remain in the area where Kamal Adwan and two other hospitals are located.
Impact Shorts
More ShortsIsrael has vowed to destroy Hamas after the militants’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel in which they killed around 1,200 people and abducted some 250 others. Some 100 Israelis remain captive in Gaza, and around a third are believed to be dead.
With inputs from agencies