Dr. Hussam Abu Safia inside Kamal Adwan Hospital, northern Gaza, prior to his injury by a occupation quadcopter. Photo: CNN.
The director of northern Gaza’s Kamal Adwan Hospital in the city of Beit Lahia, Dr Hussam Abu Safia, has been injured and is in worsening condition.
The director of the main partially-functioning hospital in besieged northern Gaza has been injured in an Israeli drone strike. Israeli forces have repeatedly attacked Kamal Adwan Hospital and have damaged the facility’s generators, fuel tanks and main oxygen station. pic.twitter.com/kQl3y9mBdi
— Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) November 24, 2024
Abu Safia’s condition has “deteriorated” after he was wounded by an “Israeli” quadcopter attack on the medical facility a day earlier, Al Jazeera’s correspondent reported on 24 November.
“Israel” bombed Kamal Adwan Hospital again on Sunday, following the attack that injured the hospital director.
“I was injured while at my place of work [at the hospital]… this is an honor for me. My blood is not more valuable than the blood of others… we will continue to provide humanitarian care no matter what; we are steadfast before the world, which is unjust and has violated our rights,” Abu Safia is heard saying from his hospital bed in a video circulating social media.
“Es un honor ser herido en el hospital, sus bombas no detendrán nuestra misión humanitaria, seguiremos tratando a las personas aunque el coste sea dar nuestras vidas. Enfrentaremos el silencio criminal del mundo”.
El director del Hospital Kamal Adwan, el doctor Hussam Abu Safia,… pic.twitter.com/SukYA9QKU7
— Daniel Mayakovski (@DaniMayakovski) November 24, 2024
The hospital director was wounded by shrapnel from an exploding bomb dropped by an Israeli quadcopter, according to Arabi21. Abu Safia was checking on patients when the quadcopter struck.
Abu Safia said that six shrapnel fragments penetrated his thigh, causing ruptures in the veins and arteries. The doctor urgently needs to consult with a vascular surgeon, but there is no specialist available at Kamal Adwan Hospital.
Since the start of “Israel”‘s genocidal war on the Gaza Strip, Dr. Hussam Abu Safia has refused to leave the hospital.
At the end of October, “Israeli” forces not only detained Abu Safia, but later killed his eight-year-old son after the hospital director defied the military’s evacuation orders.
Israeli forces have killed the son of Dr Hussam Abu Safiya, the director of Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza. This happened after Dr Hussam refused to leave the hospital after it came under attack. The hospital is featured in our @AJFaultLines doc Starving Gaza. pic.twitter.com/sjt1TqJ4F1
— Hind Hassan (@HindHassanNews) October 26, 2024
Prior to his injury, he revealed that Kamal Adwan Hospital, one of the last few semi-functional hospitals in the northern strip, has been targeted numerous times—detailing each attack on the facility. Kamal Adwan Hospital has now been attacked by “Israel” over eight times in the last few weeks.
Director of Kamal Adwan Hospital Dr. Hussam Abu Safia:
“What is happening is a war crime against the health system. For the seventh time in a row, Kamal Adwan Hospital is being bombed.
The first bombing targeted the reception and emergency entrance, and Dr. Saeed Joudeh, who… pic.twitter.com/bJwzYDQKHs
— The Cradle (@TheCradleMedia) November 22, 2024
“Unfortunately, this is happening while we are calling on the world, humanitarian, and human rights organizations to intervene urgently to save the health system,” he said.
“Israel” bombarded the hospital late on November 21, injuring six of its medical staff, including some who were left in critical condition. The hospital’s main generator was destroyed, and its water tanks were punctured. Many of the hospital’s other essential equipment have been damaged or destroyed by “Israel.”
The attack came less than a day after a massacre was committed by “Israel” on a residential block in the hospital’s vicinity. At least 66 were killed and more than 100 injured by the bombing. Around 200 people were present at the time of the attack, Abu Safia revealed at the time.
An “Israeli” quadcopter also targeted medical staff at Al-Awda Hospital in northern Gaza, early on Friday.
The “Israeli” campaign against north Gaza’s hospitals comes as part of its brutal siege and extermination plan in the northern Gaza Strip.
Well over 100,000 Palestinians have been expelled from northern Gaza in nearly two months. Fifty one days have now passed since the “Israeli” army began unofficially implementing the “Generals’ Plan” in northern Gaza, which aims to expel or kill all of the area’s remaining residents.
