‘Operation Al-Aqsa Flood’ Day 67: Israeli forces storm Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahia
Casualties
- 18,412+ killed* and 50,000 wounded in the Gaza Strip.
- 279 Palestinians killed in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem
- Israel revises its estimated October 7 death toll down from 1,400 to 1,147.
- 435 Israeli soldiers killed since October 7. Israeli media reports over 5,000 injured, citing military sources.**
*This figure was confirmed by the Gaza Ministry of Health on December 11. However, due to breakdowns in communication networks within the Gaza Strip, the Ministry of Health in Gaza has not been able to regularly and accurately update its tolls since mid-November. Some rights groups put the death toll number closer to 20,000.
**On December 9, Yedioth Ahronoth reported over 5,000 Israeli soldiers have been injured in the fighting thus far, with 2,000 categorized as disabled, citing official figures by Israel’s Ministry of Defense. Israeli reports about combat casualties are strictly subject to gag orders, and Yedioth Ahronoth later removed the 5,000 figure from its original report
Key Developments
- Israeli forces storm Kamal Adwan Hospital in Biet Lahia, north of Gaza City, following days of siege endured by patients and medical staff.
- Israeli war jets bomb the house of Al Jazeera correspondent Anas Al-Sharif, killing his father, Jamal, 65, in Jabalia’s Block 5 neighborhood. Al-Sharif is the third Al Jazeera journalist to see his family members killed in Israeli bombardment.
- Israeli forces have killed 86 journalists in Gaza since October 7; however, media workers whose relatives were killed far exceed that number.
- Rescue teams recover 23 bodies buried under the rubble following bombardment of Khala family home in Al-Nazla neighborhood in Jabalia.
- Israeli military announces on Tuesday 20 soldiers killed in “friendly fire” in Gaza; 13 “mistakenly identified as terrorists.”
- Houthi rebels launch missile on vessel scheduled to dock in Israel’s Ashdod Port, set on fire near Bab Al-Mandab strait.
- Israeli forces kill four Palestinians in occupied West Bank’s Jenin refugee camp on Tuesday morning, following Israeli night raid of town.
Israeli forces storm Kamal Adwan Hospital, no safety conditions for UN workers to operate
Israeli forces stormed on Tuesday morning the Kamal Adwan Hospital in Biet Lahia, north of Gaza City, following days of siege and bombing endured by patients and medical staff.
Gaza’s Ministry of Health spokesperson, Ashraf Al-Qidra, said Israeli forces were corralling all of the hospital’s male medical staff in the hospital’s courtyard for a mass arrest.
He added that the ministry fears for the medical staff’s safety and that they could be “killed.” Last week, Israeli forces arrested hundreds of Palestinians who were sheltering in schools in north Gaza, placing them in trucks and taking them to an unknown destination.
“We call on the United Nations, the World Health Organization, and the International Committee of the Red Cross to act immediately to save the lives of those in the hospital,” Qudra added.
Kamal Adwan Hospital is just one medical facility that Israeli forces have stormed since October 7, alongside Al-Shifa Medical Complex and Al-Rantisi Hospital.
At least 18,412 Palestinian martyrs were killed and more than 50,000 injured in the Gaza Strip, according to Gaza’s Ministry of Health on Monday evening.
Since December 1, Israel has launched a ground invasion of southern Gaza and pummelled the towns and cities of Khan Yunis, Dier al-Balah, Abasan, and al-Qarara.
The UN humanitarian affairs coordinator Martin Griffiths told Al Jazeera that the hope of Israel’s approach to be “more precise” in fighting in southern Gaza was dashed.
“What has happened is the assault on southern Gaza has been no less than the north. It’s raging through Khan Younis at the moment, and it is threatening Rafah. The compression of the population is greater. We cannot be sure of any of our points of operation to be safe,” he said.
Griffiths added that conditions of safety for UN aid workers to offer humanitarian services for 1.8 million displaced people are nonexistent in southern Gaza.
Al Jazeera correspondent’s father killed in northern Gaza
In the past 24 hours, Israel has continued its land, air, and sea bombardment of all of the Gaza Strip. In Dier Al-Balah, in southern Gaza, navy boats bombed the town from the sea, while airstrikes hit five houses in the Al-Bureij refugee camp, killing nine people and injuring 20 others, Wafa news agency reported.
In Rafah, 20 people were killed in Israeli airstrikes on homes in the area. Two houses were also bombed in Rafah’s Tal al-Sultan neighborhood, west of the town, which belonged to the Al-Alam and Sobh families. Ten people were killed and 70 injured, while tens remain trapped under the rubble.
In Khan Younis, two people were killed in artillery shelling on the eastern and central parts of the city. The ongoing bombardment of Khan Younis caused the immense displacement of Palestinians towards the southern town of Rafah.
Israeli forces also heavily bombed the vicinity of the Nasser Hospital in the western part of Khan Younis. On Sunday night, the army airdropped military and logistical supplies for troops near Khan Younis.
Meanwhile, Israeli forces have put northern Gaza’s Jabalia refugee camp under siege for the past eight days. At least 5,000 people taking shelter in the UN-affiliated Hafsa and Falasteen schools were displaced, and some were arrested.
Israeli forces stormed nine UNRWA schools in Jabalia camp in the past week, and on Monday, the army bombed the camp clinic, killing at least five Palestinians, according to Wafa.
Israeli war jets also bombed the house of Al Jazeera correspondent Anas Al-Sharif, killing his father, Jamal, 65, in Jabalia’s Block 5 neighborhood. Al-Sharif is the third Al Jazeera journalist to see his family members killed in Israeli bombardment.
He told Al Jazeera that he received threats from Israeli military officers to cease media coverage from north Gaza. Al-Sharif remained in his house in Jabalia despite his son’s appeal to him to take shelter in a school.
“My beloved father has become a martyr. To Allah, we belong, and to Him, we shall return,” Al-Sharif wrote on social media platform X (formerly Twitter).
Al Jazeera said in a statement: “We call on the international community to take urgent measures to stop the occupation army’s massacres of journalists and civilians in Gaza.” Since October 7, Israeli forces have killed 86 journalists in the Gaza Strip; however, media workers whose relatives were killed far exceed that number.
On Monday, rescue teams were able to recover 23 bodies buried under the rubble following the bombardment of the Khala family house in the Al-Nazla neighborhood in Jabalia. Another 15 people were killed in the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood, north of Gaza City, in an airstrike on the Salem family’s home. Israeli warplanes also bombed the neighborhoods of Al-Daraj, Al-Sahaba, Al-Shuja’iya, and Al-Zaytoun, all in northern Gaza.
Houthi rebels target ship bound to Ashdod port, several Israeli soldiers killed in ‘friendly fire’
The Israeli military announced on Tuesday that 20 soldiers were killed in “friendly fire” in the Gaza Strip; 13 were “mistakenly identified as terrorists.”
As of Tuesday, December 12, 435 Israeli soldiers have been killed, starting on October 7; 111 of them were killed after the ground invasion began in late October.
Battles between Palestinian resistance fighters and Israeli forces are still ongoing with increasing frequency and intensity. The Palestinian Islamic Jihad’s Al-Quds Brigades released footage of fighters targeting Israeli tanks and military vehicles in eastern Al- Shuja’iya.
Palestinian fighters appear standing inside bombed buildings while Israeli tanks pass by a few meters away from them. Hamas’s Al-Qassam Brigades also released footage of its fighters targeting Israeli infantry forces and tanks in eastern Gaza City.
Arab and European officials have been warning since October 7 of the fight in Palestine and Israel to spill into the region. On Monday, a Norwegian-flagged tanker near the Red Sea was hit by a missile, setting it on fire off Yemen’s coast. On Tuesday, the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) said that the Norweigan ship, Strinda, has “reported damage causing a fire on-board, but no casualties at this time.”
CENTCOM said the ship was hit on Monday by “an Anti-Ship Cruise Missile (ASCM) launched from a Houthi controlled area of Yemen while passing through the Bab-el-Mandeb.”
“There were no US ships in the vicinity at the time of the attack, but the USS MASON responded to the M/T STRINDA’s mayday call and is currently rendering assistance,” it added.
Trade Winds shipping news reported that the Strinda was a chemical vessel scheduled to dock in Israel’s Ashdod Port in January. Up until Tuesday morning, Ashdod Port’s website has been taken offline.
“The Strinda was hit by a missile about 15 nautical miles (28 km) west of Mokha in Yemen on Monday. A fire broke out on board but it was extinguished by the Indian crew, who remained unharmed,” Trade Winds reported.
The Houthis warned that they would target any ship heading to or dealing with Israel at the Bab Al-Mandab strait as long as the bombardment of the Gaza Strip continues, and as long as food and medicine is allowed into the enclave.
The Houthi rebels’ spokesperson, Yahya Saree, said in a tweet on Tuesday that the Yemeni Armed Forces did not resort to targeting the Norwegian ship Strinda until its crew refused to respond to their warning.
Regarding southern Lebanon, the U.S. administration said it was “concerned” about Israel’s use of white phosphorus two months ago, following the release of a report in The Washington Post on Monday. The investigative report revealed that Israel used U.S.-supplied bombs of white phosphorus to target the town of Dheira, and found the remains of three 155mm artillery rounds.
“We’ve seen the reports, certainly concerned about that. We’ll be asking questions to try to learn a little bit more,” National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said on Monday.
Israel’s white phosphorus shelling of south Lebanon has also burned almost 40,000 olive trees.
On Monday, the mayor of the Lebanese village of Al-Taybeh, Hussien Mansour, 80, was killed on his home’s balcony when an Israeli strike hit the Baidar al-Faqaani area in the town.
The exchange of fire between the Hezbollah movement and Israeli forces is a daily event at several points near the UN’s “Blue Line,” which separates northern occupied Palestine from southern Lebanese territory.
Israeli forces kill four Palestinians in Jenin
Four Palestinians were killed in the occupied West Bank’s Jenin refugee camp on Tuesday morning, following an Israel night raid of the town.
They were identified as Rafiq Al-Dabbous, Mahmoud Abu Srour, Bakr Zakarneh, and Thaer Abu Al-Tin. They were killed by an Israeli drone missile in the Sibat neighborhood in the city of Jenin, while a sniper’s bullet seriously injured another.
Medical staff at Ibn Sina Hospital in Jenin told Wafa that an Israeli plane dropped toxic smoke bombs in the hospital courtyard, disrupting emergency services and ambulances from entering and exiting the facility.
Israeli forces also surrounded the Ibn Sina Hospital, the Jenin Governmental Hospital, and the Al-Razi Hospital. Six people were arrested during the raid, while Israeli bulldozers destroyed public infrastructure, flattened three roundabouts, and damaged electricity generators and several monuments of Palestinian martyrs in Jenin, Wafa reported.
Video footage emerged of the cold killing of Rami al-Jundub, 25, three days after Israeli forces raided Al-Fara’a refugee camp south of Tubas.
A relative of A-Jundub told Al Jazeera that Israeli soldiers in a vehicle shot him with 12 bullets while he was lying injured on the ground. Seven Palestinians were killed in Faraa on December 8.
Rami was among a group of Palestinians escaping an approaching military jeep when he was shot. In the video footage, the military vehicle gets closer, and an Israeli soldier opens the driver’s door, shooting the young man several times as he lies down on the ground.
At least 50 Palestinians were arrested overnight from Hebron, Jerusalem, Nablus, Bethlehem, and other towns in the occupied West Bank, Wafa reported.
Since October, Israeli soldiers or settlers killed 279 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and Jerusalem.
Before you go – we need your support
At Mondoweiss, we understand the power of telling Palestinian stories. For 17 years, we have pushed back when the mainstream media published lies or echoed politicians’ hateful rhetoric. Now, Palestinian voices are more important than ever.
Our traffic has increased ten times since October 7, and we need your help to cover our increased expenses.
No comments:
Post a Comment