Israel army detains hospital director in northern Gaza
Hello and welcome back to the Guardian’s live coverage of the ongoing crisis in the Middle East.
Israeli forces have detained the director of a hospital in the north, Gaza health officials said on Saturday. The World Health Organization (WHO) said the hospital was put out of service by an Israeli raid.
“The occupation forces have taken dozens of the medical staff from Kamal Adwan Hospital to a detention centre for interrogation, including the director, Hossam Abu Safiyeh,” the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said in a statement.
The Gaza civil defence agency reported that Abu Safiyeh had been detained, adding that the agency’s director for the north, Ahmed Hassan al-Kahlout was among those held.
“The occupation has completely destroyed the medical, humanitarian, and civil defence systems in the north, rendering them useless,” Mahmud Bassal, spokesman for the civil defence agency, told AFP.
On Friday, the Israeli military said it had launched an operation in the area of Kamal Adwan Hospital, saying the facility was a “key stronghold for terrorist organisations”.
Gazan terrorist group Hamas denied its militants were operating out of the hospital, and charged that Israeli forces had stormed the facility on Friday.
The World Health Organization said the Israeli military operation had put the hospital out of service.
“This morning’s raid on Kamal Adwan Hospital has put this last major health facility in north Gaza out of service. Initial reports indicate that some key departments were severely burnt and destroyed during the raid,” the WHO said in a statement on X.
Key events
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Five Israeli demonstrators protesting for the release of hostages taken by Hamas on October 7 have been arrested outside the home of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem.
Twenty protestors gathered outside the home in the early morning, shouting through loudspeakers at the prime minister that the hostages were suffering in the tunnels and were “cold, tortured and sick” while he enjoyed home comforts, Channel 12, an Israeli broadcaster, reported.
They also chanted that Netanyahu’s wife, Sara Netanyahu, was the subject of a police investigation, referring to when Israel’s Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara ordered an investigation after a report alleged that she had harassed opponents.
“Everything is closing in on you. We, the people, will not forget and will not forgive,” the protestors shouted while banging on drums and blowing horns.
Police say they were held for violating noise restrictions.
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CCTV footage shows WHO chief fleeing Yemeni airport amid Israeli strike – video
CCTV footage shows the director general of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, escaping a room at Sana’a airport as it was targeted by an Israeli airstrike.
Tensions between Yemen’s Houthi movement and the Israeli government have escalated in recent weeks, with the Houthis intensifying attacks against Israel in an effort to pressure it to end its war in Gaza…
The WHO has reiterated its call for a ceasefire.
“This raid on Kamal Adwan Hospital comes after escalating restrictions on access for WHO and partners, and repeated attacks on or near the facility since early October,” the WHO said.
“Such hostilities and the raids are undoing all our efforts and support to keep the facility minimal functional. The systematic dismantling of the health system in Gaza is a death sentence for tens of thousands of Palestinians in need of health care.”
Hamas denied its militants were present in the hospital, and charged that Israeli forces had stormed the facility on Friday.
“We categorically deny the presence of any military activity or resistance fighters in the hospital,” Hamas said in a statement.
“The enemy’s lies about the hospital aim to justify the heinous crime committed by the occupation army today, involving the evacuation and burning of all hospital departments as part of a plan for extermination and forced displacement.”
This morning’s raid on Kamal Adwan Hospital has put this last major health facility in North #Gaza out of service. Initial reports indicate that some key departments were severely burnt and destroyed during the raid.
60 health workers and 25 patients in critical condition,… pic.twitter.com/bD5eJgnVkR
— World Health Organization (WHO) (@WHO) December 27, 2024
The head of the World Health Organization said on Friday he was not sure he was going to survive, Reuters reports.
Speaking after his ordeal at the Sanaa International Airport in Yemen on Thursday, which was bombed by Israeli forces targeting the Iran-aligned Houthi movement, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the air raid was so deafening that his ears were still ringing over a day later.
“I was not sure actually I could survive because it was so close, a few meters from where we were,” he told Reuters. “A slight deviation could have resulted in a direct hit.”
Tedros said after the attack, as he and his colleagues wandered through the debris, they could hear drones zooming overhead, making them worry about further strikes.
“There (was) no shelter at all. Nothing. So you’re just exposed, just waiting for anything to happen,” he said. The Israeli strikes on Yemen came after Houthis repeatedly fired drones and missiles toward Israel in what they describe as acts of solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza.
“So a civilian airport should be protected, whether I am in it or not,” Tedros said, before observing there was “nothing special” about what he had faced in Yemen. “One of my colleagues said we narrowly escaped death. I’m just one human being. So I feel for those who are facing the same thing every single day. But at least it allowed me to feel the way they feel.”
“I’m worried about our world, where it’s heading,” Tedros added, urging world leaders to work together to end global conflicts. “I have never … as far as I can remember, seen the world really being in such a very dangerous state.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said afterwards that Israel was “just getting started” with the Houthis.
Footage released by Ansar Allah-affiliated Al Masirah TV captured the moment Israeli forces targeted the control tower at Sanaa International Airport, Yemen, while the Director-General of the World Health Organization was in the VIP lounge. The attack seriously injured the… pic.twitter.com/5kjLb4PumI
— Drop Site (@DropSiteNews) December 27, 2024
Tracy McVeigh
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“The worst we see? Probably after the barrel bombs were being dropped on people in Syria.”
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Children in war zones face a daily struggle for survival that deprives them of a childhood,” Russell said. “Their schools are bombed, homes destroyed, and families torn apart. They lose not only their safety and access to basic life-sustaining necessities, but also their chance to play, to learn, and to simply be children. The world is failing these children. As we look towards 2025, we must do more to turn the tide and save and improve the lives of children
Almost one in five children live in conflict zones, says Unicef
Julian Borger
Nearly one in five of the world’s children live in areas affected by conflicts, with more than 473 million children suffering from the worst levels of violence since the second world war, according to figures published by the UN.
The UN humanitarian aid organisation for children, Unicef, said on Saturday that the percentage of children living in conflict zones around the world has doubled from about 10% in the 1990s to almost 19%, and warned that this dramatic increase in harm to children should not become the “new normal”.
With more conflicts being waged around the world than at any time since 1945, Unicef said that children were increasingly falling victim. Citing its latest available data, from 2023, the UN verified a record 32,990 grave violations against 22,557 children, the highest figures since the security council mandated monitoring of the impact of war on the world’s children nearly 20 years ago…
Kaamil Ahmed
BEIT LAHIA, GAZA – DECEMBER 25: Palestinians gather following the Israeli attack on the courtyard of Kamal Adwan Hospital and its surrounding buildings in Beit Lahia, Gaza on December 25, 2024. (Photo by Khalil Ramzi Alkahlut/Anadolu via Getty Images) Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images
The last major health facility in northern Gaza has been put out of service, the World Health Organization has said, and its director detained according to Gaza officials after an Israeli military operation targeting sites near the Kamal Adwan hospital.
“Initial reports indicate that some key departments were severely burnt and destroyed during the raid,” the WHO said in a statement on X.
Israel’s military said in a statement that the hospital had become a “key stronghold for terrorist organisations and continues to be used as a hideout for terrorist operatives” since Israeli forces began broader operations in northern Gaza in October…
Israel army detains hospital director in northern Gaza
Hello and welcome back to the Guardian’s live coverage of the ongoing crisis in the Middle East.
Israeli forces have detained the director of a hospital in the north, Gaza health officials said on Saturday. The World Health Organization (WHO) said the hospital was put out of service by an Israeli raid.
“The occupation forces have taken dozens of the medical staff from Kamal Adwan Hospital to a detention centre for interrogation, including the director, Hossam Abu Safiyeh,” the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said in a statement.
The Gaza civil defence agency reported that Abu Safiyeh had been detained, adding that the agency’s director for the north, Ahmed Hassan al-Kahlout was among those held.
“The occupation has completely destroyed the medical, humanitarian, and civil defence systems in the north, rendering them useless,” Mahmud Bassal, spokesman for the civil defence agency, told AFP.
On Friday, the Israeli military said it had launched an operation in the area of Kamal Adwan Hospital, saying the facility was a “key stronghold for terrorist organisations”.
Gazan terrorist group Hamas denied its militants were operating out of the hospital, and charged that Israeli forces had stormed the facility on Friday.
The World Health Organization said the Israeli military operation had put the hospital out of service.
“This morning’s raid on Kamal Adwan Hospital has put this last major health facility in north Gaza out of service. Initial reports indicate that some key departments were severely burnt and destroyed during the raid,” the WHO said in a statement on X.