Israel shells north Gaza hospital

AFP

Palestinian health officials said on Sunday that Israeli forces had shelled the Kamal Adwan Hospital in the northern Gaza town of Beit Lahiya, damaging electricity and oxygen pumps and disrupting urgent surgeries.

Hussam Abu Safiya, director of the hospital, one of only three barely operational on the northern edge of the enclave, said the facility was hit by around 100 tank shells and bombs, wounding several of the medical staff and patients.

"The situation is extremely dangerous. We have patients in the intensive care unit and others awaiting surgeries. Access to the operating rooms is only possible after restoring electricity and oxygen supply," Abu Safiya said in a statement.

The hospital is treating 112 wounded people, including six in the intensive care unit, he said.

The Israeli military declined to immediately comment on Abu Safiya's account.

The health ministry of Hamas-run Gaza said a doctor was killed with his family in an Israeli airstrike near the Kamal Adwan Hospital on Saturday night.

Residents said the military blew up clusters of houses in the northern Gaza areas of Jabalia, Beit Lahiya and Beit Hanoun, where Israeli forces have operated since October.

Later on Sunday, an Israeli air strike killed five Palestinians in the heart of Gaza City, taking the number of people killed in separate military strikes across the enclave to 11, medics said.

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