At least 46 Palestinians killed in Israeli attacks, hospital hit, Gaza ministry says

At least 46 Palestinians were killed Thursday in Israeli military strikes in the Gaza Strip, mainly in the north, where one struck a hospital, set fire to medical supplies and disrupted operations, the enclave’s health officials said.

The Israeli military has accused the Palestinian group Hamas of using the Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahiya for military purposes, saying “dozens of terrorists” are hiding there. Health officials and Hamas deny the accusation.

Later on Thursday, an Israeli airstrike on two houses in the Nuseirat camp in central Gaza killed at least 16 Palestinians, medics at the camp’s Al-Awda hospital told Reuters. The dead included a paramedic and two local journalists, she added.

Northern Gaza, where Israel said in January it had dismantled Hamas’s command structure, is currently the main focus of the military assault on the enclave. Earlier this month it sent tanks to Jabalia, Beit Hanoun and Beit Lahiya to flush out militants it said had regrouped.

Eid Sabbah, director of nursing at Kamal Adwan – in Beit Lahiya – told Reuters that some staff suffered minor burns after the Israeli attack hit the hospital’s third floor.

There were no reports of casualties at the hospital, which was stormed and briefly occupied by Israeli forces last week. Israel said it captured about 100 suspected Hamas militants in that raid. There are still Israeli tanks nearby.

The Ministry of Health in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip called on all international agencies “to protect hospitals and medical staff from the brutality of the (Israeli) occupation.”

The Israeli military has said its forces are operating in the hospital area based on intelligence about the presence of terrorists and terror infrastructure in the area.

“During the operation, it emerged that dozens of terrorists were hiding in the hospital, some even posing as hospital staff,” the army said in a statement after Thursday’s attack.

Medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said on Thursday that one of its doctors at the hospital, Mohammed Obeid, was detained by Israeli forces last Saturday. It called for his and all medical staff who “face horrific violence while trying to provide care” to be protected.

The Gaza war began after a Hamas-led fighter attacked Israel on October 7, 2023, killing about 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages back to Gaza, according to Israeli figures.

Israel’s subsequent attack on Gaza has killed more than 43,000 Palestinians and left most of the enclave in ruins, Palestinian authorities say.