Gaza health ministry claims Israeli forces are burning the Kamal Adwan Hospital, one of only three medical facilities on the northern edge of the Gaza Strip, after ordering dozens of patients and hundreds of others to evacuate the compound.
The Palestinian health ministry said contact with staff inside the facility, which has been under heavy pressure from Israeli forces for weeks, had been lost.
Munir Al-Bursh, director of the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza, said in a statement:
“The occupation forces are inside the hospital now and they are burning it.”
Medics and the civil emergency service also reported separate incidents across Gaza in which Israeli strikes killed at least 25 people. One of those strikes on a house in Gaza City killed 15 people.
The Israeli military said it had made efforts to mitigate harm to civilians and had “facilitated the secure evacuation of civilians, patients and medical personnel prior to the operation” but gave no details.
Israel’s campaign against Hamas in Gaza has killed more than 45,300 Palestinians, according to health officials in the enclave. Most of the population of 2.3 million has been displaced and much of Gaza is in ruins.