THE WORLD HEALTH Organisation has said the Israeli military took 44 male healthcare workers captive after a raid on the Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza over the weekend.

The Israeli military (IDF) said its soldiers had “apprehended approximately 100 terrorists” during the raid. 

The assault has now reportedly brought the three-week siege of the hospital to an end.

The head of the WHO, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, described the situation in northern Gaza as “catastrophic”. 

“Intensive military operations unfolding around and within healthcare facilities and a critical shortage of medical supplies, compounded by severely limited access, are depriving people of life saving care,” he said.

“The Health Ministry in Gaza informed us that the siege at Kamal Adwan Hospital has ended, but it came at a heavy cost.”

Warning: The video below contains footage of wounded children.

The situation in northern #Gaza remains critical.
Hospitals must be protected.

"The situation in northern #Gaza is catastrophic. Intensive military operations unfolding around and within healthcare facilities and a critical shortage of medical supplies, compounded by severely… pic.twitter.com/BIz4u8KvMp

— WHO in occupied Palestinian territory (@WHOoPt) October 28, 2024

Ghebreyesus said that the Gaza Health Ministry informed the WHO that only female staff, the hospital’s director, and one male doctor are left to care for the nearly 200 patients who remain in Kamal Adwan. 

“Reports of the hospital facilities and medical supplies being damaged or destroyed during the siege are deplorable. The whole health system in Gaza has been under attack for over a year,” he added.

Channel 4 reported that the hospital’s director had gone to the gates of the hospital compound raising a makeshift white flag as the hospital was surrounded. 

Chilling footage of the moments Israeli forces arrived at the Kamal Adwan hospital in northern Gaza

Medical staff holding white flags

This was filmed by a brave local journalist, who was detained and beaten he says, before being released

W/ @YousefHammash @LizzyAman pic.twitter.com/mCHxROFB9J

— Secunder Kermani (@SecKermani) October 25, 2024

Over the weekend, the medical NGO Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said it was “deeply concerned for the safety and whereabouts” of one of its staff members, orthopaedic surgeon Dr Muhammed Obeid, who was working in Kamal Adwan Hospital.

MSF said it lost contact with Dr Obeid on Friday and that medical staff had been detained on Saturday morning. 

Three weeks ago the IDF began demanding that people in the north of the Palestinian territory evacuate and move south. The orders cover around 1.1 million people. 

During that time, no water, food or other supplies have been delivered to the area, although the WHO said it had managed to get supplies to the Kamal Adwan Hospital over the weekend. 

Israeli forces also laid siege to two other hospitals in the area, alleging that Palestinian militants were operating within them. 

Since then, hundreds of thousands of people have fled south while men have been rounded up and detained, according to footage released by the IDF. 

Israel has routinely taken Palestinians, mostly men, captive and held them without charge or trial throughout the country’s war on the Gaza Strip.

UN Secretary General Antonio Gutteres said yesterday he was “shocked” by the level of death and injury in northern Gaza over the last three weeks.

Today, the Gaza Health Ministry said the death toll from the Israeli war on the territory has now passed 43,000 people.