Israeli raids in Gaza: hospital director Kamal Adwan announces five deaths among his staff

From journalists from a television channel affiliated with an Islamist group to hospital staff, at least 45 people were killed Thursday in several Israeli raids on the war-torn Gaza Strip, according to various Palestinian sources.

The director of Kamal Adwan Hospital in the northern Gaza Strip announced Thursday that five members of his staff, including a doctor, had been killed in an Israeli army raid, which was not comment immediately.

Targeted

“An Israeli strike left five hospital staff martyred,” said Dr. Hossam Abou Safiya in a statement, specifying that they were a pediatrician, a laboratory technician, two paramedics. and a maintenance agent.

The Hamas government’s Health Ministry said early Thursday morning that Israeli forces had “detonated a robot in front of the hospital” and that “shrapnel” had “seriously injured” a nurse.

“We are still under threat,” the hospital director declared at the time, asking the international community to intervene “urgently before it is too late.” According to him, approximately 75 patients and 180 staff members are currently at the establishment.

13 dead in strike

Earlier in the day, the Palestinian channel Al-Quds Today, affiliated with Islamic Jihad, announced Thursday the death of five of its journalists, killed during an Israeli strike in the central Gaza Strip. The IDF, for its part, claims to have targeted a cell of the armed group.

The head of pediatrics at a hospital in the south of the territory also said that three babies less than a month old had died in 48 hours this week due to the cold.

Throughout the day, the Civil Defense of the Gaza Strip reported several dozen deaths in various strikes on the coast. According to her, 13 people were notably killed in the bombing of a house in the west of Gaza City where “many families displaced” by the fighting lived.

According to data from the Hamas government’s Health Ministry for Gaza, deemed reliable by the UN, more than 45,000 Palestinians have been killed and 107,940 people injured since the start of the war, sparked by an unprecedented attack of the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas in Israel on October 7, 2023.

“Obstacles in the negotiations”

This new assessment comes as negotiations have resumed for several days between the two camps for an agreement on a ceasefire and the release of hostages held in the enclave. However, Hamas and Israel accused each other on Wednesday of stalling the negotiations.

The Palestinian Islamist movement first criticized Israel for having put “new conditions” on the table in the indirect discussions underway in Doha for several days, under the aegis of Qatar, Egypt and the United States. United.

According to him, they would concern the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza, the ceasefire, the return home of displaced people and an exchange between Palestinian prisoners held by Israel and hostages held in Gaza. These “conditions have postponed the conclusion of an agreement”, affirmed the movement in a press release.

Israel took only a few minutes to respond, in turn accusing Hamas of “posing new obstacles in the negotiations”. “The terrorist organization Hamas is lying once again, going back on points that had been the subject of an agreement,” denounced the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The Palestinian movement clarified that negotiations were continuing in Doha, but these statements contrast with the optimism displayed in recent days on both sides.