Israeli forces detain hundreds at Gaza hospital

The health ministry said Israeli forces detained hundreds of staff, patients and displaced people during a raid on Friday on the last functioning hospital in the territory's embattled north.

"Israeli forces have stormed and are present inside Kamal Adwan Hospital" in the city of Jabalia, the ministry said in a statement.

"They are detaining hundreds of patients, medical staff and some displaced individuals from neighbouring areas who sought refuge in the hospital from continuous bombardment."

World Health Organization chief Tedros Ghebreyesus said that contact with the hospital had been lost since Friday morning.

"Since this morning's reports of a raid on Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza, we have lost touch with the personnel there," Ghebreyesus said on X.

"This development is deeply disturbing, given the number of patients being served and people sheltering there." The Israeli army confirmed that its troops were operating in the hospital area, accompanied by agents of the Shin Bet domestic security service. Army and Israeli Security Agency forces "are operating in the area of the Kamal Adwan Hospital in Jabalia, based on intelligence information regarding the presence of terrorists and terrorist infrastructure", it said in a statement. Israeli forces had surrounded the hospital in Jabalia refugee camp before entering the premises, Gaza's civil defence agency said.

"More than 150 patients and staff, including medical and nursing teams, are besieged by the Israeli army inside Kamal Adwan Hospital," agency spokesman Mahmud Bassal said.

COGAT -- the Israeli defence ministry body responsible for civil affairs in the Palestinian territories -- said Friday it had allowed the transfer of 23 patients out of the hospital the previous night in Palestinian ambulances and UN vehicles.

Kamal Adwan is the last functioning hospital in north Gaza. It has been struggling with shortages of medicines and medical equipment since the start of war, which have been aggravated by the launch of a major Israeli operation in north Gaza earlier this month.