‘We’ll leave when the last Palestinian leaves’: The defiant last stand of the doctors of Kamal Adwan Hospital
Director of Kamal Adwan Hospital, Husam Abu Safiyeh (middle), holds up his hands during the Israeli invasion of the hospital, 26 October 2024
Tareq S. Hajjaj reports in Mondoweiss on 25 December 2024:
Patients are trying to sleep inside the Kamal Adwan Hospital in the northern Gaza Strip. But just outside, they can see a remote-controlled robot carrying explosives sent by the Israeli army. It’s only a matter of time before the bomb is detonated. Tanks and bulldozers move around the hospital and in front of its entrances all day long. The sounds of explosions and bullets do not stop.
Inside the hospital, there is a constant state of panic. With each new explosion or round of fire, patients flee from one wing of the hospital to another, crowding in the narrow hospital corridors to sleep like sardines, hoping that they will be safe.
This is the current reality at the Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahia, one of the last semi-functioning hospitals in northern Gaza. For 75 days, the hospital has been under siege by the Israeli army, which has banned the entry of food, medicine, and water, while periodically cutting off communications inside the hospital, preventing doctors and patients from communicating with the outside world. Not to mention the constant bombings.
In recent days, the army has stepped up its attacks on the hospital. According to witnesses, the Israeli army has deployed the use of remote-controlled robots, which approach the hospital gates, the surrounding areas, and its courtyard, dropping boxes filled with explosives that are later detonated remotely. The Israeli army has attacked the hospital dozens of times over the past 10 days, and in addition to the remote-controlled explosives, the army has been firing live bullets and artillery fire at the hospital, and has also been using drones and quadcopters in its attacks.
“Yesterday we went through a difficult night that no one can imagine. At dawn, there was violent and direct targeting of the intensive care unit, Dr. Muhammad Barid told Mondoweiss from inside the ICU at the hospital on Tuesday, December 24.