Israel detains director of one of last functioning hospitals in northern Gaza, Palestinians say

DEIR AL BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israel’s army detained the director of one of the last functioning hospitals in northern Gaza as overnight strikes in the enclave killed nine people including children, Palestinian medical officials said, while sirens rang out across Israel.

Gaza’s Health Ministry said Saturday that Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, director of Kamal Adwan Hospital, was arrested by Israeli forces. The announcement comes a day after Israeli troops stormed the hospital, forcing many staff and patients outside to strip in winter weather, according to the ministry.

Israel’s army didn’t respond to questions about Dr. Abu Safiya. On Friday, it denied claims it had entered or set fire to the complex and said it was conducting operations against Hamas infrastructure and militants in the area and had ordered people out of the hospital.

It repeated claims that Hamas militants operate inside Kamal Adwan Hospital but provided no evidence. Hospital officials have denied that.

Kamal Adwan Hospital has been hit multiple times over the past three months by Israeli troops waging an offensive against Hamas fighters in surrounding neighborhoods. The ministry said a strike on the hospital earlier this week killed five medical personnel.

Israel’s nearly 15-month-old campaign of bombardment and offensives has devastated Gaza’s health sector. The war has killed more than 45,400 Palestinians, more than half women and children, and wounded more than 108,000 others, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. Its count does not distinguish between civilians and combatants.

Dr. Abu Safiya was detained Friday along with dozens of other staff from the hospital and taken to an interrogation center, the ministry said.

On Friday, MedGlobal, the humanitarian organization where Dr. Abu Safiya worked, said he was a lead physician for the group and was gravely concerned about him. The group said the incident follows the October detention of five other of its staff, calling it an “alarming and egregious pattern of targeting medical personnel and spaces.”

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.

Israel 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. Around 100 Israelis remain captive in Gaza, around a third believed to be dead.

On Saturday, Israel continued attacks across Gaza. An overnight strike killed at least nine people in Maghazi, including women and children, according to an Associated Press reporter who saw the bodies and staff at Al Aqsa Martyrs Hospital where they were taken.

Israel said its troops had also begun operating in the northern city of Beit Hanoun, following intelligence that fighters and Hamas infrastructure were in the area.

Strikes also continued into Israel. Early Saturday morning, air raid sirens once again awoke Israelis and the military said it intercepted a missile fired by Yemen’s Houthi rebels.

Israeli warplanes bombed key infrastructure in Yemen again on Thursday. The Iran-backed Houthi rebels have also been attacking shipping in the Red Sea and say they won’t stop until Israel agrees to a ceasefire in Gaza.

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Mednick reported from Jerusalem.

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Follow AP’s war coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war

Wafaa Shurafa And Sam Mednick, The Associated Press