ISRAELI forces stormed the Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza yesterday morning setting it alight.
This was after airstrikes on a nearby building killed 53 people, including medical personnel.
At dawn, the Israeli military escalated its operations around Kamal Adwan Hospital.
At 7.15am local time (05:15 GMT), Israeli forces used loudspeakers to order the hospital director, patients, and injured individuals to evacuate within 15 minutes.
The military had earlier forcibly removed dozens of sick and injured patients from the hospital, leaving approximately 75 people stranded in the courtyard amidst ongoing assaults on the facility.
They then set on fire the largest hospital in the area, which serves over 400,000 Palestinians.
Tanks, accompanied by quadcopter-mounted machineguns, advanced further into the area.
Explosive devices which had been planted near the hospital were detonated, causing extensive damage to its northern gate and back entrance, and triggering fires in several adjacent buildings.
Thursday’s airstrikes near the hospital had already claimed 53 lives, with five medical staff among the victims, according to Dr Hussam Abu Safiyyah, the hospital’s director.
Communications have been completely severed with medical staff, patients, and journalists inside the hospital.
The hospital remained under siege, with 91 patients trapped inside, and urgent calls for intervention being made to provide essential supplies and assistance.
According to reports, all lines of communication were cut off after Israeli forces encircled the hospital and demanded that medical staff, patients, and their companions gather in the courtyard, signalling an imminent raid.
Then an Israeli airstrike on the hospital claimed the lives of five staff members.
The victims included paediatrician Dr Ahmad Samour, laboratory specialist Israa Abu Zayda, paramedics Abdul Majid Abu Al-Eish and Maher Al-Ajrami, and maintenance worker Fares Al-Houdali.
The ongoing attacks have critically endangered supplies of fuel and oxygen, leaving the facility unable to adequately care for the wounded or sustain its remaining patients.
For weeks, the hospital has endured relentless Israeli strikes amidst a siege that has cut off access to vital resources, including food, medicine, and medical personnel.
Since 5 October, Israeli forces have launched a brutal invasion of the northern Gaza Strip, employing indiscriminate bombings while preventing the delivery of food, water, and essential aid to the region.
