Northern Gaza hospital ‘overwhelmed by horror’ as Israeli army escalates Mass Murder

Health official describes gunfire and artillery shells outside Kamal Adwan Hospital as hundreds are trapped inside.

from thefreeonline on 6 Dec 2023 by Edna Mohamed  and Linah Alsaafin at Al Jazeera

Terrified civilians are trapped inside the Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza as Israeli forces have encircled the medical facility, a senior official at the Ministry of Health tells Al Jazeera.

More than 100 people have been killed in strikes close to the facility, the ministry said on Tuesday.

A Palestinian man receives treatment after an Israeli strike near the Kamal Adwan hospital in Beit Lahiya in the northern Gaza Strip on November 22, 2023 [File: Mohammad Ahmad/AFP]

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“The Israeli occupation forces have laid siege to the hospital from all sides … We are targeted by gunfire and artillery shells,” said Munir al-Bursh, director-general of the Health Ministry in Gaza, speaking from inside Kamal Adwan.

“Patients, injured and those who took shelter in the hospital are gripped with fear; overwhelmed by horror,” he said.

Footage from Kamal Adwan showed bodies swaddled in white, lined up in rows in a courtyard of the medical compound. Witnesses said anyone attempting to leave was being shot at by Israeli snipers.

“We fear a massacre inside Kamal Adwan Hospital, as happened in [al-Shifa Hospital] and the [Indonesian Hospital]”, al-Bursh said.

💔🇵🇸 Dead Palestinian children are being pulled from the rubble. https://t.co/5GpY6ELngw

— Jackson Hinkle 🇺🇸 (@jacksonhinklle) December 5, 2023

‘They have already killed us’

Overnight, injured people continued to stream into the hospital amid ongoing bombardment, their heads and faces covered in dust. The hundreds of evacuees taking shelter there are shown resting or being treated on the floor by medics with extremely limited resources.

“What do they want from us? They have already killed us. Our families and friends are dead,” a man at the medical facility told Al Jazeera.

💔🇵🇸 A young Palestinian girl trapped under a 5-floor building, bravely asked the rescue teams to prioritize saving her parents, little brother, and grandmother over herself. pic.twitter.com/bLNNu5vjQg

— Jackson Hinkle 🇺🇸 (@jacksonhinklle) December 3, 2023

A second man explained that he moved to the hospital hoping to find safety from the Israeli air strikes, but his words were abruptly interrupted by the loud bang of an explosion that could be heard very close by.

“We wished we were not left behind,” screamed a woman, her hands shaking and her voice imbued with desperation..