The Palestinian presidency on Friday condemned Israel’s “grave crime” of setting fire to sections of Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahia, northern Gaza.
According to Wafa news agency, the presidency said in a statement that the hospital provides services to more than 400,000 residents.
It said that the Israeli army’s act is a “serious and flagrant violation of international law, treaties, and conventions that protect the medical sector and health care workers during times of war.”
Separately, the Palestinian Health Ministry also condemned Israel’s ongoing assault on Gaza.
In a statement, the ministry said: “The Israeli occupation’s persistence in its crimes is largely due to the silence of the international community regarding the ethnic cleansing and massacres taking place.”
The ministry called on the international community to protect patients, medical staff, and treatment centers in Palestine, particularly in Gaza, following the Israeli raid on Kamal Adwan Hospital.
Meanwhile, Hamas condemned the Israeli army’s actions calling the storming of the hospital a “war crime” committed amid “international inaction and full complicity from the US administration.”
Earlier on Friday, a medical source from Kamal Adwan Hospital told Anadolu that the Israeli army set fire to several hospital sections.
The source reported that the Israeli army threatened the hospital’s director, Hossam Abu Safiya, with arrest if the hospital was not fully evacuated.
The source also confirmed that several patients died in the ICU after the Israeli army cut off their oxygen supply.
Israel launched a large-scale ground offensive in northern Gaza on Oct. 5 to allegedly prevent the Palestinian group Hamas from regrouping. Palestinians, however, accuse Israel of seeking to occupy the area and forcibly displace its residents.
Since then, no sufficient humanitarian aid including food, medicine and fuel has been allowed into the area, leaving the remaining population on the verge of imminent famine.
Israel has killed more than 45,400 people in Gaza since an Oct. 7, 2023 cross-border attack by Hamas, reducing the enclave to rubble.
Last month, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.