WHO is dismayed by yesterday’s raid on Kamal Adwan Hospital, which knocked out the last major health facility in northern Gaza. The systematic dismantling of the health system and the siege of more than 80 days in northern Gaza endanger the lives of the 75,000 Palestinians remaining in the region.
Initial reports indicate that some areas of the hospital were set on fire and severely damaged during the raid, including the laboratory, surgical unit, engineering and maintenance department, operating room and medical store. Earlier today, twelve patients and one female healthcare staff were reportedly forced to evacuate to a destroyed and non-functional Indonesian hospital where it is not possible to provide care, while the majority of staff, patients stables and their companions were transferred to a hospital. nearby location. Additionally, some people were reportedly stripped naked and forced to walk towards southern Gaza. Over the past two months, the area around the hospital has remained very unstable and attacks on hospitals and health personnel have occurred almost daily. This week, shelling in the surrounding area reportedly killed 50 people, including five health workers at Kamal Adwan Hospital.
Kamal Adwan is now empty. Last night, the remaining 15 critical patients, 50 caregivers and 20 health workers were transferred to the Indonesian hospital, which does not have the necessary equipment and supplies to provide adequate care. The movement and treatment of these critical patients under such conditions poses serious risks to their survival. WHO is deeply concerned for their well-being, as well as for hospital director Kamal Adwan who was reportedly arrested during the raid. The WHO has lost contact with him since the raid began.
An urgent WHO mission to the Indonesian hospital is planned tomorrow to assess the situation at the facility, provide basic medical supplies, food and water, and safely move critical patients to the city of Gaza to continue treatment there.
The raid on Kamal Adwan Hospital follows increasing access restrictions and repeated attacks. Since the beginning of October 2024, WHO has verified at least 50 attacks on health inside or near the hospital. Despite the increasingly pressing need for emergency and trauma services and supplies, only 10 of 21 WHO missions to Kamal Adwan were partially facilitated between early October and December. During these missions, 45,000 liters of fuel, medical equipment, blood and food were delivered, and 114 patients and 123 accompanying people were transferred to Al-Shifa Hospital. But the deployment of international emergency medical teams has been repeatedly refused.
Efforts by WHO and its partners to support hospital operations have been in vain. With Kamal Adwan and Indonesian hospitals completely out of service, and Al-Awda Hospital barely able to function and badly damaged by recent airstrikes, the vital health system for residents of northern Gaza is reaching a breaking point.
The WHO is calling for urgently to ensure that hospitals in northern Gaza can be supported to become functional again.
Hospitals have once again become battlefields, reminiscent of the destruction of the health system in Gaza City earlier this year.
Since October 2023, the WHO has repeatedly made urgent calls to protect health workers and hospitals in accordance with international humanitarian law – but these calls have gone unheeded. Healthcare facilities, workers and patients are still prohibited. They must be actively protected and never attacked or used for military purposes. The principles of precaution, distinction and proportionality under international humanitarian law are absolute and always apply.