Tens of thousands of displaced Palestinians across northern Gaza have been forced to leave by the Israeli army since Monday, October 21. Northern Gaza is being emptied of its inhabitants. At least 200,000 people continue to stay there, many of them fearing that they will be targeted on the way south or in Israeli-designated “safe zones,” which have been consistently bombarded over recent months, hence the phrase “death march”.
One of Israel’s strategies in achieving this goal of removing Palestinians fom the North is to destroy the area’s few remaining social institutions like hospitals.
The last functioning hospital in northern Gaza has officially ceased to operate after Israeli forces raided it over the weekend, arresting all but two of its medical staff and damaging parts of the hospital premises.
The Kamal Adwan Hospital was the only medical centre for around 200,000 Palestinians in the area north of Gaza City. On Saturday, Israeli forces began to raid the hospital, ordering patients and medical staff to leave all parts of the hospital and assemble in the courtyard.
Once everyone was assembled, Israeli soldiers then separated the men from the women and arrested dozens of Palestinians, including all of the hospital’s staff except one nurse and the hospital’s Director, Dr. Husam Abu Safiyeh, pictured above. The Israeli army claimed to have arrested 100 “terrorists,” which included dozens of hospital staff members.
They were taken to an unknown location and their fate remains unknown. According to a recent UN inquiry, Israel has deliberately attacked healthcare workers and facilities, and committed war crimes and the crime against humanity of extermination in Gaza. The existential threat facing Palestinians is real.
