UN warns patients and staff trapped in Gaza hospital under siege must be protected

The majority of medical facilities are non-operational while the others are only partially functional

Wounded Palestinians wait at the Kamal Adwan hospital last month (AFP via Getty Images)

The head of the World Health Organisation (WHO) has urged Israel to protect civilians trapped in a siege of the only hospital left in northern Gaza, as Palestinian health officials say soldiers have rounded up all males over the age of 15 and taken them to an unknown location.

The head of the UN agency, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, sounded the alarm about Kamal Adwan Hospital where he said 65 patients, who need intensive care treatment, and 45 members of medical staff are trapped. It is the last remaining medical centre in the north of the Hamas-run Gaza Strip, after a similar siege and deadly raid on north Gaza’s Al-Awda hospital this week.

Health officials in the besieged strip told The Independent 3,000 displaced civilians were also sheltering at Kamal Adwan and among the trapped patients were 12 children, including four on ventilators, who will die if they are not rescued.

“I’m extremely worried about reports of a raid at Kamal Adwan Hospital in Gaza after several days of siege,” Mr Ghebreyesus wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.

“The hospital was already minimally functional due to acute shortages of fuel, water, food and medical supplies even before the siege.

“The WHO urgently calls for the protection of all persons inside the hospital. WHO further calls for an immediate ceasefire and for sustained humanitarian access to health facilities across the Gaza Strip.”

Youssef Abu al-Reesh – the deputy health minister of Gaza – told The Independent that many of the wounded in Kamal Adwan were immobile and could not move even if they were able to evacuate.

“Right now everyone is trapped inside. They have no food, electricity and water. It is the same scenario as happened with Al-Awda hospital, where five of our staff were killed.”

Dr Abu al-Reesh, who was in Gaza’s largest hospital, Al-Shifa, when it was also besieged by Israeli forces last month, said that he was told at Kamal Adwan, soldiers had ordered all boys and men over the age of 15 out of the hospital and gathered them in an area within the complex.

“We don’t know what is going to happen to them, but we are worried they will abduct the medics.”

The Independent reached out to the Israeli military for comment but has yet to receive a reply.

Several prominent Palestinian medics have been arrested by Israeli soldiers, after raids on hospitals, including Mohammad Abu Salmiya, the director of Al-Shifa, who was detained at a checkpoint on a WHO convoy evacuating patients to the south of the strip. His whereabouts are still unknown. Israel had claimed Al-Shifa Hospital was a central command centre for the militant group Hamas, which has denied the allegations.

Since then images have emerged showing Israeli soldiers rounding up men in Gaza, stripping them down to their underwear and taking them to unknown locations in trucks. Civilians, including journalists and medics, have been identified among the groups. The Independent asked the military for comment about the images but has yet to receive a reply.

The army has repeatedly said anyone it detains is treated “in accordance with international law” and a spokesperson said this week that soldiers have stripped Palestinian detainees to ensure they are not wearing explosive vests. Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has claimed that “dozens of Hamas terrorists have surrendered to our forces” in recent days.

Dr Abu al-Reesh said that dozens of staff working for the health ministry are among those who have been detained.

“So far 35 members of our staff are missing – arrested by Israel, we do not know where they are being held,” he continued.

“We ask the international community to protect hospitals, stop the war and to demand an immediate ceasefire.”

Israel has faced mounting global pressure to halt a devastating siege and bombardment of Gaza, which it launched in retaliation for the bloody 7 October attack by Hamas on southern Israel where they killed at least 1,200 people and took 240 hostage, including a baby aged just nine months.

US president Joe Biden, who has vowed to back Israel’s right “to defend itself”, admitted on Tuesday that “indiscriminate” bombing of civilians was costing international support.

The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza says that at least 18,000 people have been killed, 70 per cent of them women and children. Much of the fighting has focused on hospitals.

The health sector is close to collapse, with two-thirds of Gaza’s 36 hospitals now out of service, and the 12 remaining health facilities only partially operational. Even in functioning hospitals, doctors report a lack of basic medicines and the kind of equipment needed to treat newborns, including ventilators, formula milk and disinfectant.

The United Nations humanitarian office said on Wednesday that Gaza faced a “public health disaster” following the collapse of its health system.

Lynn Hastings, the UN Humanitarian Coordinator for the Occupied Palestinian Territory said that the situation was “a textbook formula for epidemics”.

The WHO said that several hospitals are under siege including Al-Awda hospital, where three medics, including two Doctors Without Borders staff were killed on Saturday.

The United Nations, citing ministry of health statistics, has said that since 7 October at least 286 health workers have been killed and 57 ambulances have been hit and damaged.

Dr Abu al-Reesh described having to dig a mass grave in Shifa hospital before they were forced to evacuate it, where he had to bury his own niece who died from burns injuries.

He said: “There is nowhere for people to go, people, babies are dying – everyone has the right to a health service, it is about the right to health.”

The United Nations demanded on Wednesday an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza in a vote which has no legal force but was the strongest sign yet of eroding international support for Israel’s actions. Three-quarters of the 193 member states voted in favour and only eight countries joined the United States and Israel in voting against.

Before the vote, President Biden said Israel still has support from “most of the world” including the US and European Union for its fight against Hamas.

“But they’re starting to lose that support by indiscriminate bombing that takes place,” he told a campaign donor event in Washington.”