Gaza [Palestine], December 28: Israeli forces on Friday raided the Kamal Adwan Hospital, one of three medical facilities on the northern edge of Gaza, ordering dozens of patients and hundreds of others to evacuate and leaving part of the site on fire, health ministry officials said.
Elsewhere in Gaza, Israeli strikes killed at least 25 people, including 15 people in a single house in Gaza City, medics and the civil emergency service said.
The Palestinian health ministry said contact with staff inside the hospital in Beit Lahiya, which has been under heavy pressure from Israeli forces for weeks, had been lost.
Later on Friday, the health ministry in Gaza said that Israeli forces detained the hospital director, Abu Safiya, and dozens of his staff.
"The occupation forces are inside the hospital now and they are burning it," ministry director Munir Al-Bursh said in a statement.
The Israeli military said it had tried to limit harm to civilians and had "facilitated the secure evacuation of civilians, patients and medical personnel prior to the operation," but gave no details.
In a statement, it said fighters from the Palestinian Hamas group, which previously controlled the Gaza Strip, had operated from the hospital throughout the war and had made the site a key stronghold. Hamas dismissed the statement as "lies," saying there were no fighters in the hospital.
Youssef Abu El-Rish, the Hamas-appointed deputy health minister, said Israeli forces had set fire to the surgical department, laboratory and a storehouse.
The Israeli military (IDF) said there was a small fire in an empty building inside the hospital that it said was under control. "Regarding claims that the fire was caused by IDF gunfire, the IDF is currently unaware of any such incident," it said.
Source: Fijian Broadcasting Corporation
