The Israeli Army Killed His Son And Arrested His Colleagues In Kamal Adwan Hospital, But Director Hussam Abu Safiya Refuses To Abandon His Patients. – +972 Magazine

December 23, 2024

The Israeli Army Killed His Son And Arrested His Colleagues In Kamal Adwan Hospital, But Director Hussam Abu Safiya Refuses To Abandon His Patients.

‘I will stay inside my hospital until the last moment’

Since the beginning of October, the Israeli army has been conducting a brutal attack on the northern Gaza Strip, killing hundreds of Palestinians in Jabalia, Beit Lahiya, and Beit Hanoun and forcing around 70,000 to flee to Gaza City. As part of its campaign to cleanse the area of Palestinians, the army has besieged and bombarded the region’s three hospitals, pushing each of them to the brink of collapse without presenting any substantial evidence of the military necessity of these attacks.

Kamal Adwan Hospital, in Beit Lahiya, is barely functioning after weeks of sustained Israeli assault. At 2 a.m. on Oct. 25, the Israeli army closed in on the hospital – which had already been subjected to a military raid in December 2023 – and began bombing the building and its courtyards. Shells hit the third floor, destroying medical supplies that the World Health Organization (WHO) had delivered in the previous days, and damaging the hospital’s dialysis unit. The attack also cut off the hospital’s medical oxygen generator, resulting in the deaths of two infants in the intensive care unit.

A few hours later, Israeli troops stormed the hospital, ordering all patients and displaced Palestinians seeking refuge there to gather in the central courtyard. Hundreds were arrested or detained and subjected to questioning, including almost all the hospital’s staff.

Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, a pediatrician and the hospital’s director, refused to evacuate Kamal Adwan despite Israel’s threats. He was briefly detained during the raid, before returning to care… As he did so, an Israeli drone killed his 15-year old son, Ibrahim..

Israeli troops withdrew from the hospital on Oct. 28,,,The hospital is currently accommodating more than 120 patients, but Abu Safiya is one of only two doctors and a handful of nurses left to care for them.

And still the attacks continue: on Oct. 31, Israeli forces struck the hospital again, destroying another recent delivery of WHO supplies. During a WHO delegation visit to hospital this past Sunday, Nov. 3 – part of an attempt to evacuate some patients – Israeli artillery fire targeted the pediatric ward, wounding a 13-year-old girl and several other people. On Nov. 4 and Nov. 5, the hospital came under fire yet again, wounding staff and patients and damaging water tanks.

+972 spoke with Abu Safiya, who is still inside the hospital, on Oct. 31. The interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Read the full interview:

🔗SOURCE ➡️ +972 Magazine [X]

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