Quick summary:
• Israeli forces destroyed the only ICU in northern Gaza at Kamal Adwan Hospital, setting it ablaze with tank fire and rendering it inoperable.
• Hospital staff extinguished the fire with blankets and bare hands due to a lack of firefighting resources and a water supply cut by Israeli forces.
• The hospital faces severe shortages of water, oxygen, and medical supplies as Israeli forces block nearly all aid and repeatedly target the facility.
• Nearly 19,000 children have been hospitalized for acute malnutrition in Gaza over the past four months due to Israel’s blockade, with warnings of famine-like conditions across the region.
• Gaza’s healthcare infrastructure has collapsed, leaving pregnant women, malnourished children, and critically ill patients without adequate care.
• The U.S. State Department dismissed concerns over Kamal Adwan Hospital, citing unverified claims of Hamas using civilian infrastructure for military purposes.
• Humanitarian groups accuse Israel of violating international law by targeting hospitals and using starvation as a weapon of war.
The only functioning intensive care unit (ICU) in northern Gaza has been destroyed after Israeli tanks targeted Kamal Adwan Hospital, leaving critically ill patients with no access to life-saving care. The attack marks the latest escalation in an ongoing military campaign that has devastated Gaza’s infrastructure, compounded by a near-total blockade on humanitarian aid.
On Tuesday, airstrikes near Kamal Adwan Hospital killed at least eight people, including children still trapped under rubble, according to hospital director Hossam Abu Safiya. Shortly afterward, tanks fired directly at the hospital, hitting its ICU and setting it ablaze.
“The scene inside the ICU resembled a war zone, with bullets penetrating equipment, walls, and windows,” Safiya said. Hospital staff evacuated patients and oxygen tanks before using blankets and bare hands to extinguish the fire, as there was no access to water or firefighting equipment.
“We were able to extinguish the fire using our hands, as there were no fire extinguishers available and the water supply had been cut off,” Safiya added. “It is incomprehensible why we are being targeted in this way.”
The attack on Kamal Adwan Hospital is part of a sustained military campaign targeting Gaza’s healthcare facilities, civilians, and vital infrastructure. Over the past week, hospital staff reported quadcopters dropping bombs near the facility and explosives detonating just outside the premises.
The hospital, home to 71 patients, has faced extreme shortages of food, water, and medical supplies due to Israel’s blockade. Remote-controlled robots have destroyed water tanks, and oxygen reserves have been hit in previous attacks.
Although the World Health Organization (WHO) managed to deliver a small shipment of fuel, food, and medicine last week, it is one of the few supplies allowed through since October. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus revealed that Israeli forces blocked four additional missions to the hospital in the same week.
International emergency medical teams have also been denied access, leaving overworked hospital staff struggling to keep up with the rising number of casualties. Many of Kamal Adwan’s personnel have been killed, detained, or injured in the conflict.
The collapse of Gaza’s healthcare system coincides with a deepening food crisis. Nearly 19,000 children have been hospitalized for acute malnutrition in the past four months, a nearly twofold increase compared to earlier this year, according to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA).
UNRWA has reported famine-like conditions in Gaza, exacerbated by the blockade. One of the agency’s remaining health centers reported having only six boxes of baby formula to distribute, despite thousands of infants in need.
“People here really are surviving on bread, lentils, food in tin cans. We are not seeing families and children get the nutrients they need,” said UNRWA emergency officer Louise Wateridge.
The United Nations-backed Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) warned last month that Gaza’s population is experiencing “emergency” food insecurity, with northern Gaza potentially already facing famine. Pregnant women, children, and the elderly are among the most vulnerable to malnutrition and related health complications.
The UN Population Fund estimates that 50,000 pregnant women in Gaza lack essentials such as food, water, and hygiene supplies, leading to increased cases of low-birth-weight babies and complications during childbirth.
Despite extensive documentation by humanitarian groups, the international response has been limited. At a press conference on Wednesday, State Department Deputy Press Secretary Vedant Patel deflected concerns about Kamal Adwan Hospital, citing unverified claims that Hamas uses civilian infrastructure for military purposes.
“Israel is in an unusual, even unprecedented burdened place in that Hamas has a long track record of using hospitals and schools and other facets of civilian infrastructure for military infrastructure,” Patel said, despite no evidence of such activity at Kamal Adwan.
Human rights organizations, including Amnesty International, have condemned Israel’s actions as violations of international law. The targeting of hospitals and the use of starvation as a weapon have been widely criticized but remain unaddressed by global powers.
The destruction of Kamal Adwan’s ICU and the ongoing blockade have left Gaza on the brink of catastrophe. With malnutrition rates soaring, medical supplies dwindling, and healthcare facilities collapsing, the region faces a humanitarian crisis with generational consequences.
“There are increased reports of preterm and low-birth-weight babies, and malnutrition is making it harder for new mothers to breastfeed,” the UN Population Fund noted in its latest report. “This is a crisis that will compound for decades to come.”
As the death toll rises and infrastructure crumbles, calls for accountability grow louder. “It is incomprehensible why we are being targeted in this way,” Safiya said, reflecting the despair of those attempting to save lives in impossible conditions.
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