Reporter:
The Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahiya is a lifeline for Northern Gaza amid war and humanitarian catastrophe. Just outside the window where patients are being treated, a structure fire rages. The hospital’s director, Hosam Abu Safia, says Israeli forces shelled the house, killing several people.

Dr. Hosam Abu Safia:
A little while ago, one of the hospital’s neighbors was targeted — in a house next to Kamal Adwan Hospital, it’s a few meters away from us. Unfortunately, so far we have retrieved more than eight martyrs, all of them burned. They arrived in pieces. Most of them are children, women, and elders.

Person:
Seven from the family — seven. The woman and her kids. Her husband was martyred two months ago.

Reporter:
Without any means to fight the fire, hospital staff will later have to move dozens of wounded and critically ill patients before the blaze spreads to the ICU. By morning, Abu Safia reports the unit has been destroyed.

In October, a United Nations inquiry found that Israel was committing war crimes by a, quote, “concerted policy to destroy Gaza’s healthcare system” during its war with the terrorist group Hamas. Israel did not deny the specific report but has long accused the UN of bias.

A few days before the attack, the World Health Organization had brought supplies to Kamal Adwan. They also brought doctors with surgical specialties, who Abu Safia said were there to help patients in immediate need — but Israel barred them from entering the hospital.

After the truck was unloaded, shots rang out and everyone scattered. Then it was back to work for Abu Safia and his staff, treating the wounded despite dwindling resources.