The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) strongly condemns the repeated targeting of Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza by Israeli occupation forces (IOF), including its evacuation orders. The attacks on homes and shelters housing civilians continue in perpetuation of the crime of genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

According to information collected by PCHR researchers, contact with Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahia, northern Gaza, was lost early Sunday, 22 December 2024, following a harrowing night of relentless shelling, gunfire, and explosive robots targeting nearby buildings, as IOF ordered the hospital to be evacuated.

The hospital’s director stated late Saturday that IOF had contacted them, ordering the evacuation of approximately 70 patients and injured, along with their companions and medical staff, to the Indonesian Hospital in northern Gaza. However, the evacuation efforts were hindered due to the lack of ambulances and the ongoing Israeli attacks.

The hospital has been targeted over 20 times in recent days by drone attacks, artillery shelling, and gunfire, causing severe damage, including the burning of ICU, and injuring 20 individuals, including patients and medical staff.

PCHR stresses the urgent need for immediate action to protect patients and medical personnel and to ensure the ongoing operation of the hospital in an area where thousands of residents and IDPs face bombardment, starvation, and deprivation of healthcare and humanitarian services.

The attack on Kamal Adwan Hospital occurs amid an intensified IOF military offensive in northern Gaza, the most ferocious since 05 October 2024. Entire neighborhoods have been wiped out, and residents were forcibly displaced, with hundreds detained.

IOF have also continued to systemically target shelters and homes without warning. At approximately 01:30 on Sunday, Israeli warplanes attacked the Musa Bin Nusayr School, which sheltered displaced families in Al-Daraj neighborhood of Gaza City, killing eight Palestinians, including three children, and injuring several others.

Additionally, Israeli warplanes targeted an apartment in a five-story building belonging to the Abu Irqoub family in Khan Younis Refugee Camp at approximately 12:25 on Sunday without prior warning, killing Hazem Abdul Karim Abu Irqoub (48) and his wife Faten Rabah Al-Qouqa/Abu Irqoub (41).

On Saturday evening, 21 December 2024, at approximately 20:10, Israeli warplanes bombed a house sheltering displaced families in Deir Al-Balah in central Gaza Strip, killing six Palestinians, including three women. Among the victims were families from Al-Tibrani, Al-Dahher, and Abu Samra, with 5 children still buried under the rubble. Many others were injured, and nearby homes were damaged.

On the same day, at approximately 17:05, Israeli warplanes attacked a house belonging to Matar family in Al-Nusairat Camp in central Gaza, killing four Palestinians, including two children, a woman, and an elderly. Several others were injured, and many neighboring homes sustained damage.

IOF launched dozens of airstrikes on homes and residential gatherings across the Gaza Strip, killing and injuring numerous Palestinians. According to the Ministry of Health, as of Sunday morning, 22 December 2024, Israel’s war on Gaza has killed 45,259 and injured 107,627 since 07 October 2023.

PCHR underscores that Israel’s ongoing military assault and atrocities and its disregard for calls to end the genocide in Gaza are emboldened by the perpetual impunity granted by US and some Western allies alongside these nations’ complicity in the serious violations committed against the Palestinian people through continuously arming Israel with weapons, ammunition, and political support.