How Israel’s war on Hezbollah is pushing Lebanon’s health system to the brink of collapse

Analysis How Israel’s war on Hezbollah is pushing Lebanon’s health system to the brink of collapse
Israeli strikes on Hezbollah targets across Lebanon have killed at least 1,250 people and injured more than 5,000, overwhelming the nation’s hospitals. (Getty Images)
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Updated 09 October 2024
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How Israel’s war on Hezbollah is pushing Lebanon’s health system to the brink of collapse

How Israel’s war on Hezbollah is pushing Lebanon’s health system to the brink of collapse
  • Hospitals already crippled by grinding economic crisis are now overwhelmed by wounded people
  • Israeli airstrikes on Syrian border and close to Beirut’s international airport have further disrupted aid deliveries

LONDON: Lebanon’s healthcare system, already crippled by years of economic crisis, has been brought to the brink of collapse since Israel’s unprecedented attack on Hezbollah’s communications network in mid-September and the wave of airstrikes targeting its leaders and weapons caches.

According to some reports, several health facilities have been damaged by Israeli airstrikes. Last month, the World Health Organization said the “escalation of violence” since Sept. 23 had forced at least 37 health centers to close their doors.

Lebanon’s Health Ministry also said dozens of medical workers have been killed, with the WHO reporting 28 deaths in a single 24-hour period last week.

Lebanon was rocked last month by two attacks on Hezbollah’s communications network, which saw pagers and walkie-talkies carried by militia members explode simultaneously.

The devices, reportedly booby-trapped by Israel, exploded in public areas, killing 20 people, including children, and injuring 450 others, according to the Health Ministry, overwhelming hospitals across Lebanon.




A truck and ambulance burn after Israeli airstrikes hit a group of paramedics outside a hospital in Marjayoun, south Lebanon, Friday, Oct. 4, 2024. (AP)

Soon afterward, Israel began pounding Lebanon in its pursuit of Hezbollah, its leadership, and its weapons. The relentless airstrikes have killed at least 1,250 people and injured more than 5,000, according to Lebanon’s Health Ministry.

Israel and Hezbollah began trading fire along the Lebanese border on Oct. 8, a day after the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel that killed 1,200 and saw 250 taken hostage, prompting Israel’s retaliatory operation in Gaza.

Hezbollah rocket fire has displaced nearly 60,000 people from Israel’s north. The Israeli government says its aim is to push Hezbollah back to the Litani River, about 18 km from the Israeli border, which would allow displaced Israeli civilians to return to their homes.

Over the past two weeks, there have been reports of damage to healthcare facilities in Lebanon. In one such incident earlier this month, an airstrike on Marjayoun Hospital in the south knocked the facility out of service and killed dozens of staff.




Flames and smoke rise from an Israeli airstrike on Lebanon’s Dahiyeh, Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024. (AP)

Mounes Kalakesh, Marjayoun’s director, told AP news agency that the Israeli military did not warn the government hospital before the strike. Emergency Director Shoshana Mazraani described the facility’s ensuing closure as a “tragedy for the region.”

Israel’s Arabic-language military spokesman, Avichay Adraee, accused Hezbollah of using ambulances to transport weapons and fighters, but he did not provide evidence to support the claim.

Lebanon’s Health Ministry said on Oct. 3 that 40 paramedics, firefighters and health workers had been killed in Israeli attacks over a period of three days.

Last week, the International Lebanese Medical Association appealed to the WHO to pressure Israel to halt what it called a “massacre” of Lebanon’s health workers.

IN NUMBERS

  • 37 Lebanese health facilities forced to close owing to Israeli strikes, according to WHO.
  • 97 Rescue workers killed since last October, according to Lebanon’s health minister.

Tania Baban, the Lebanon country director of the US-based charity MedGlobal, said the healthcare situation in Lebanon today is almost indescribable.

“The healthcare system is in a very difficult situation,” she told Arab News, stressing that if further hospitals are knocked out of action, the sector may not be able to respond to the mounting number of wounded.

“Even if they don’t get targeted, if there are still going to be attacks that are this intense on the south and in Dahieh (Beirut’s southern suburbs), that’s going to create a strain.”

Lebanon has suffered successive blows since the 2019 financial crisis, which severely impacted the provision of essential public services.




Ambulances carrying the bodies of civil defense workers killed in an Israeli strike drive amid the destruction in the southern Lebanese town of Tayr Dibba, on September 29, 2024. (AFP)

“The economic crisis caused the devaluation of the local currency and inflation, which caused some serious problems in the procurement of medical equipment and supplies as well as medications,” said Baban.

“When the government announced bankruptcy, it wasn’t able to purchase supplies for the hospitals, so the hospitals were not able to cater for the patients,” she added.

The economic situation also impacted livelihoods, leaving many people in Lebanon unable to afford private medical care.

Lebanon has been in the grips of a financial crisis since late 2019, brought on in part by the mountain of debt the government had built up since the end of the civil war in 1990. In April 2022, Deputy Prime Minister Saade Chami declared the state and its central bank bankrupt.




Ambulances are surrounded by people at the entrance of the American University of Beirut Medical Center, on September 17, 2024. (AFP)

The World Bank reclassified Lebanon as a lower-middle-income country, down from upper-middle-income status in July 2022, after the country’s gross domestic product per capita dropped by 36.5 percent between 2019 and 2021.

Aid agencies in Lebanon are also concerned about the welfare of the approximately 1.2 million people who have been displaced by Israeli strikes and incursions in the south, the Bekaa Valley, Beirut’s southern suburbs, and Baalbek.

MedGlobal’s Baban says the scale of displacement in Lebanon has further strained medical services. Inadequate shelter, overcrowding, and the onset of winter heighten the risk of disease outbreaks.

“We’re worried about infectious diseases,” she said. “Flu season is on the way, COVID, the possibility of hepatitis A if they don’t have access to clean drinking water, and the possibility of, God forbid, cholera.”




Displaced families take refuge on central Beirut's Ain Al-Mreisseh seaside promenade on October 7, 2024. (AFP)

Giacomo Baldini, the Lebanon country director of the non-profit Relief International, said that while his team is providing hygiene kits and medical outreach in Beirut, Tripoli, and the Bekaa Valley, “the need for clean water, hot food, and medical supplies is huge, and will only increase.”

He wrote in a first-hand account from Beirut shared with Arab News: “We are hoping to provide mental health support as soon as possible. There are simply not enough skilled professionals in Lebanon to provide the amount of support needed.”

Baban said: “The Ministry of Health is doing its best to reach out to stakeholders, including international NGOs such as MedGlobal, to bring in supplies from abroad.”

The ministry’s plan is to bring in additional resources while this is still possible, she said. “He (the health minister) doesn’t want people to procure and purchase supplies locally so as not to deplete the supplies we already have in the country.”




A child wounded during Israeli bombardment rests at a hospital in the southern Lebanese village of Saksaqiyeh on September 26, 2024. (AFP)

However, the intensifying Israeli strikes on southern Beirut, where part of the Beirut Rafic Hariri International Airport is situated, pose a significant risk to the delivery of supplies.

“The health system’s capacity in Lebanon is deteriorating,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a post on X on Oct. 3. “Medical supplies cannot be delivered due to the almost complete closure of Beirut’s airport.”

He called for the “urgent facilitation of flights to deliver health supplies to Lebanon” as “lives depend on it.”

Baban of MedGlobal said NGOs are struggling to raise sufficient funds to alleviate the pressure on Lebanon’s health system amid the escalating hostilities and worsening humanitarian crisis.

And while there are donors providing “shipments of medical supplies that can be shipped into the country,” the suspension of flights by many carriers has hindered the process.

Israeli airstrikes on the main border crossing between Syria and Lebanon have also obstructed the movement of supplies and medicines into Lebanon.

On Oct. 4, Israeli airstrikes targeted the Masnaa border crossing, impeding civilians trying to flee and disrupting humanitarian operations, the international monitor Human Rights Watch said in a statement.

One of the biggest challenges Lebanon’s hospitals could soon face is maintaining a consistent power supply. Most still have access to fuel for generators and many have installed solar panels. However, as the colder months approach, they may have more challenges.




A man rides his scooter as he drives on the debris of destroyed buildings that were hit by Israeli airstrikes in Dahiyeh, Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024. (AP)

“So far, we’re okay with fuel, but if that changes or the prices go up, then it might create a problem because in winter, you can’t depend on solar panels,” said Baban. “If fuel prices go up, it will be expensive to purchase fuel to keep hospitals running.”

The people working tirelessly to keep hospitals operational are also at risk of exhaustion.

Baban warned that while many doctors remain in the country, “they’re obviously already on the brink of being overworked after these sharp and rapid escalations.”

 


UK leader Starmer heads to Gulf to talk trade, Mideast

UK leader Starmer heads to Gulf to talk trade, Mideast
Updated 12 sec ago
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UK leader Starmer heads to Gulf to talk trade, Mideast

UK leader Starmer heads to Gulf to talk trade, Mideast
  • Discussing regional conflicts is expected to be “high up the agenda,” including the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, the fragile ceasefire in Lebanon and renewed unrest in Syria

LONDON: Britain’s leader Keir Starmer makes his first trip to the Gulf as prime minister from Sunday, seeking to attract investment from the region’s oil-rich states, Downing Street announced.
Starmer will first visit the United Arab Emirates and then travel to Saudi Arabia, before stopping off in Cyprus on his way back to London on Tuesday in a bid “to build closer ties and drive long term UK growth.”
The trip to Abu Dhabi and Riyadh comes as his Labour government pursues a free-trade deal with the Gulf Cooperation Council’s six nations: Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and UAE.
“There is huge untapped potential in this region, which is why, while here, I will be making the case to accelerate progress on the Gulf Cooperation Council Free Trade Agreement,” Starmer said in a statement released Saturday.
The meetings will also aim to “deepen our research and development collaboration” and partner on projects in areas including defense and artificial intelligence, Starmer added.
The British leader will land in the UAE on Sunday evening, ahead of Monday morning talks with its president Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.
Later Monday, Starmer will fly to Saudi Arabia to meet Riyadh’s de facto leader Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who last week hosted French President Emmanuel Macron.
A Downing Street press release called the UAE and Saudi “some of the UK’s most vital modern-day partners.”
The regional tour will end on Tuesday with Starmer meeting President Nikos Christodoulides in Nicosia, the first bilateral talks between the leaders of Britain and Cyprus in over five decades.
Starmer is also due to address British troops stationed in Cyprus.

Labour has staked its credibility on a promise to get Britain’s sluggish economy firing again.
It says a GCC agreement could boost bilateral trade, currently accounting for £55 billion ($70 bn) of UK trade, by 16 percent, “potentially adding an extra £8.6 billion a year in the long run.”
It hopes a deal would see Gulf sovereign wealth funds invest in a range of sectors, including energy and infrastructure, while also opening up lucrative markets to British firms.
Starmer’s trip comes after Britain last week rolled out the diplomatic red carpet for Qatar’s emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani who enjoyed a state visit to the UK.
Starmer discussed trade with the royal during talks in Downing Street that coincided with Qatar announcing it will invest £1 billion ($1.3 billion) in British climate technologies.
Discussing regional conflicts is expected to be “high up the agenda,” including the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, the fragile ceasefire in Lebanon and renewed unrest in Syria.
Starmer will also be looking to repair relations between the UK and UAE that soured under the previous Conservative government after an Abu Dhabi-backed bid to buy the Telegraph newspaper failed.
The Gulf visit will be Starmer’s 15th international trip since he entered Number 10 on July 5.
Opponents have criticized the amount of time he has spent out of the country but allies insist the trips have been vital to get to know other world leaders.
Starmer, 61, has been insisting in capitals that “Britain is back on the world stage” following rancour over its departure from the European Union.

 


Is the ‘writing on the wall’ for Syria’s Assad?

Anti-government fighters patrol the streets of Hama after they captured the central Syrian city, on December 6, 2024. (AFP)
Anti-government fighters patrol the streets of Hama after they captured the central Syrian city, on December 6, 2024. (AFP)
Updated 08 December 2024
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Is the ‘writing on the wall’ for Syria’s Assad?

Anti-government fighters patrol the streets of Hama after they captured the central Syrian city, on December 6, 2024. (AFP)
  • Now, for Assad’s rule, the “writing is on the wall,” Joshua Landis, of the Center for Middle East Studies at the University of Oklahoma told AFP. “Things are folding very quickly”
  • As early as November 2011, Turkiye’s Erdogan urged Assad to hold free elections and warned that his “office is only temporary”

PARIS: More than 13 years since Bashar Assad’s security forces opened fire on protesters demanding democratic reforms, the Syrian president’s grip on power may finally be weakening.
The 59-year-old son and heir of late dictator Hafez Assad has faced several setbacks during the long civil war triggered by his brutal crackdown in March 2011, but has so far managed to cling on to power.
Now, with his Lebanese ally Hezbollah reeling from an Israeli onslaught and his great power backer Russia distracted by its invasion of Ukraine, Assad is running short of friends on the battlefield.
Key cities in the north, including Aleppo and Hama have fallen to opposition fighters in just a matter of days.
And on Saturday the militants said they are now encircling the capital where Assad has ruled since the death of his father in 2000.
Turkiye’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has welcomed the militant advance; Israel is reinforcing its forces in the occupied Golan; and Syria’s southern neighbor Jordan is organizing an evacuation of its citizens.
In a further sign of Assad’s isolation, the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) group, which controls much of northeast Syria, said it was ready to speak to its foes among the Turkish-backed militants.
But international observers have repeatedly predicted the isolated former ophthalmologist’s fall since the earliest months of the uprising, and they have repeatedly been incorrect.
The 2011 protests against Assad’s rule began after a teenager was arrested for allegedly scrawling anti-government graffiti in the southern town of Daraa.

Now, for Assad’s rule, the “writing is on the wall,” Joshua Landis, of the Center for Middle East Studies at the University of Oklahoma told AFP. “Things are folding very quickly.”
The militant advance has been stunning.
After Aleppo and Hama fell in quick succession, the militants and government forces were clashing Saturday near the major city of Homs.
Its capture would effectively cut Assad’s capital off from his support base in the Alawite minority community in the coastal highlands.
“The Alawite minority has lost faith in Assad,” Landis said. “There are serious questions about whether the Syrian army has any fight left.”
But some caution is merited. After all, haven’t world leaders underestimated Assad before?
As early as November 2011, Turkiye’s Erdogan urged Assad to hold free elections and warned that his “office is only temporary.”
In October 2012, during a re-election campaign debate, US president Barack Obama also warned Assad that his “days are numbered.”
The next month, Nabil Elaraby, then the head of the Arab League, declared “everyone knows that the government in Syria will not remain for long.”
The Syrian strongman defied them all, even as international lawyers drew up arrest warrants for war crimes and rights groups denounced Syria’s use of chemical weapons and aerial bombardment in civilian areas.
As the civil war spiralled into overlapping regional conflicts — government versus militants, Turkiye versus Kurdish fighters, US-backed militias against Daesh group jihadists — Assad retained his grip.
At first he was ostracized by many fellow Arab leaders, leaning instead on Iranian and Russian support, but as it became clear he was not leaving the stage diplomatic ties quietly resumed.

And meanwhile, Russia and Iran had Assad’s back. Lebanon’s pro-Iran Hezbollah sent thousands of fighters, backed by Iranian advisers, to bolster Syrian government forces. Russia carried out air strikes.
But the speed of this week’s militant victories seems to suggest that without his powerful foreign friends, Assad’s Syrian army is a hollow shell.
Russia has such little confidence in its ally that its embassy has acknowledged a “difficult military and political situation.”
Before the recent ceasefire in its conflict with Israel, Hezbollah lost thousands of fighters and weapons and its long-standing chief Hassan Nasrallah.
It appears to be in no position to help, despite a Hezbollah source saying Saturday it had sent 2,000 fighters into Syria’s Qusayr area “to defend its positions.”
“The Assad government is in its most precarious position since the summer of 2012,” Nick Heras, an analyst at the New Lines Institute, told AFP.
“There is a real risk that the Assad government could lose power in Damascus, either through battles or through a negotiated retreat.
“Ultimately, the Assad government’s ability to survive will depend on the extent to which Iran and Russia see Assad as useful to their strategies in the region.”
Heras said that Russia, which has a naval base in the Syrian port of Tartus, would be loath to withdraw its military personnel and assets from the country, and Iran would be similarly reluctant to abandon Assad.
“If either or both of those allies decide they can advance their interests without Assad, then his days in power are numbered,” Heras said.
The winners would be Assad’s main regional opponents: Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Turkiye’s Erdogan, who both faced periods of intense domestic criticism only to emerge victorious in war.
Turkiye-backed militants are now spearheading the opposition advance on Homs, and Israeli air strikes against Hezbollah and Iranian targets in Syria have effectively neutralized Assad’s most potent backer.

 


Israel army says assisting UN force in ‘repelling attack’ in Syria

Israel army says assisting UN force in ‘repelling attack’ in Syria
Updated 07 December 2024
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Israel army says assisting UN force in ‘repelling attack’ in Syria

Israel army says assisting UN force in ‘repelling attack’ in Syria
  • “A short while ago, an attack was carried out by armed individuals at a UN post in the Hader area in Syria,” the army said
  • “The (Israeli army) is currently assisting the UN forces in repelling the attack“

JERUSALEM: The Israeli army said Saturday that its troops were assisting UN peacekeepers in the Golan Heights in repelling an attack “by armed individuals,” while the foreign minister said “armed forces” had entered the UN-patrolled buffer zone.
There was no immediate comment from the UN force.
“A short while ago, an attack was carried out by armed individuals at a UN post in the Hader area in Syria,” the army said in a statement, referring to a Syrian town on the edge of the buffer zone.
“The (Israeli army) is currently assisting the UN forces in repelling the attack.”
Late on Saturday, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar posted on X: “During the last day, armed forces entered the buffer zone on the Syrian side of the border with Israel. Among other things, attacks were carried out on the (peacekeepers) in the area.”
He said Israel was “troubled by violations” of the 1974 armistice with Syria. “Israel does not intervene in the internal conflict in Syria,” he added.
Earlier on Saturday, Syrian militants took control of the provincial capital of Quneitra around 12 kilometers (eight miles) south of Hader, Britain-based war monitor the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
The long-stalemated Syrian civil war burst back into life late last month, with militants sweeping across the country and capturing multiple major cities.
The military said that army chief Herzi Halevi visited the Syrian border on Saturday, He too underlined that Israel was not intervening in Syria.
He said Israel’s “primary focus is on observing Iran’s movements and interests” while a “secondary focus” was on Syrian factions and “ensuring they do not mistakenly direct their actions toward us.”
The military declined to comment on Saturday evening when asked if the attack was ongoing.
On Friday, the Israeli military said it was “reinforcing aerial and ground forces” in the Israeli-occupied parts of the Golan in response to the situation in Syria. And on Saturday it said it had conducted exercises to ensure troop readiness.
Israel conquered most of the Golan Heights during the Six-Day War of 1967 and later annexed the territory in a move never recognized by the international community as a whole.
A UN peacekeeping force, UNDOF, has patrolled a buffer zone between the Israeli- and Syrian-controlled zones since 1974.
In August 2014, Islamist militants attacked UNDOF and took more than 40 Fijian peacekeepers hostage, holding them captive for almost two weeks.


How Israeli raids transformed a Gaza hospital into a symbol of conflict’s cruel toll

How Israeli raids transformed a Gaza hospital into a symbol of conflict’s cruel toll
Updated 08 December 2024
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How Israeli raids transformed a Gaza hospital into a symbol of conflict’s cruel toll

How Israeli raids transformed a Gaza hospital into a symbol of conflict’s cruel toll
  • Shambolic state of Kamal Adwan Hospital underscores the deepening humanitarian crisis in northern Gaza
  • Facility pays a high price as Israeli forces conduct repeated operations against Hamas fighters in surrounding areas

LONDON: Kamal Adwan Hospital, the last partially functioning medical facility in northern Gaza, has been rendered non-operational following nearly seven weeks of heavy Israeli shelling, a renewed blockade and a deadly raid.

The hospital, located in Beit Lahia, north of Jabalia, has become an emblem of the destruction wrought by the conflict in the Gaza Strip, leaving the region’s already fragile health care system in tatters.

Israeli bombardment, gun battles between Israeli troops and Hamas fighters, and a severe shortage of medical supplies, food, water and fuel have crippled an already overstretched health system in Gaza.

Wounded Palestinians receive treatment at the Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahia the northern Gaza Strip on October 26, 2024 amid the ongoing war in the Palestinian territory between Israel and Hamas. (AFP)

Compounding the misery of Gaza’s 2.3 million people, most of whom have been repeatedly displaced, heavy winter rains have flooded tents across the enclave, spoiling food and damaging plastic and cloth sheeting that had protected the displaced Palestinians against the elements.

Israel says that its forces seek to minimize civilian fatalities but that Hamas uses Gaza’s civilian infrastructure, including homes, hospitals, schools and mosques, as shields for its military operations. As of Nov. 5, only 17 of the enclave’s 36 hospitals remained partially functional, according to UN figures.

Once a critical lifeline for the residents of northern Gaza, Kamal Adwan is now a shadow of its former self. Israeli forces claim their operations target Hamas militants, but the toll on civilians has been catastrophic. Witness accounts, humanitarian reports and harrowing images from the hospital reveal terrible suffering, compounded by the destruction of medical infrastructure that thousands relied on for urgent care.

IN NUMBERS

• 44,211+

Palestinians, most of them civilians, killed in Gaza war.

• 18,000

Combatants killed according to Israel.

• 2.3m

People in Gaza displaced at least once since Oct. 7, 2023.

On Friday, according to a CNN website report quoting witnesses, four doctors were killed and dozens of people wounded after Israeli forces stormed the compound. In a statement, Hussam Abu Safiya, the hospital’s director, accused the troops of forcing health workers and patients to leave the facility, and destroying critical medical supplies.

A Palestinian man carries away an injured child from a home that was hit in an Israeli strike on the Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip, on November 7, 2024. (AFP)

The Israel military denied striking or operating within the hospital, instead saying that its forces fought “against terror infrastructure and terrorists” in the nearby Jabalia area. It said it was in “continuous contact” with Kamal Adwan Hospital to deliver supplies and equipment.

The attack on Friday was the second such raid by the Israeli military since it commenced operations in three cities in northern Gaza on Oct. 5, asserting that Hamas fighters were regrouping in the area. It warned of “systematic strikes and the radical destruction of terrorist structures.”

On Oct. 8, amid fierce fighting between Israeli troops and Hamas militants in Jabalia and its refugee camp, Israeli tanks surrounded Kamal Adwan Hospital, issuing evacuation orders to its staff, patients and hundreds of people seeking refuge within its walls.

The attacks on Kamal Adwan Hospital must stop immediately, and safe passage for a humanitarian mission must be ensured, says Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General, WHO

According to Gaza’s health authority, the situation quickly deteriorated as Israeli bombardment escalated, cutting off vital access to food, water and medical supplies.

Prior to the hospital siege, the Israeli military had ordered Palestinians in Jabalia to relocate southward to a designated “humanitarian zone” in Al-Mawasi. However, international organizations and rights groups have consistently challenged Israeli claims about the existence of safe zones in Gaza. In July, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres stated emphatically: “Nowhere (in Gaza) is safe. Everywhere is a potential killing zone.”

On Oct. 24, during the third week of Israel’s offensive in Jabalia, the World Health Organization and its partners undertook a perilous mission to Kamal Adwan. Despite hostilities in the vicinity, the team managed to transfer 23 patients and 26 caregivers to Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City. They also delivered 180 units of blood, trauma and surgical supplies, and medicines for more than 5,000 patients, according to Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of WHO.

Rubbish and debris are scattered near damaged buildings in the vicinity of the Kamal Adwan hospital in Beit Lahya in the northern Gaza Strip on October 31, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. (AFP)

“Kamal Adwan Hospital has been overflowing with close to 200 patients — a constant stream of horrific trauma cases. It is also full of hundreds of people seeking shelter,” he said on X.

Noting that the WHO mission returned at 3:30am, Ghebreyesus said “accessing hospitals across Gaza is getting unbelievably harder and exposes our staff to unnecessary danger.”

Hours later, the WHO said that it had lost touch with Kamal Adwan’s staff. In the afternoon, Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) said it had also lost contact with its staff member and orthopedic surgeon Mohammed Obeid, who was sheltering and working in the hospital.

Kamal Adwan Hospital has been overflowing with close to 200 patients — a constant stream of horrific trauma cases.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General, WHO

The following day, Oct. 26, and after a days-long raid, Israeli troops withdrew from the facility, leaving it in complete disarray and taking with them dozens of staffers — including MSF’s Obeid.

The US-based NGO MedGlobal also said that six of its affiliates, including Mahmoud Lubbad, the nursing director at Kamal Adwan, were among those “illegally detained by Israeli forces.”

For the people of northern Gaza, it was more than just a medical facility; it was a lifeline in a region under siege. (Photo: X @DrTedros)

The Gaza health ministry accused Israeli soldiers of setting large sections of the hospital ablaze, assaulting staff and patients, arresting 30 medical personnel, and taking six MedGlobal affiliates, including the hospital’s nursing director, Mahmoud Lubbad, into custody.

Khalil Daqran, spokesperson for Gaza’s health ministry, described the raid as an act of deliberate destruction. “The army stormed Kamal Adwan Hospital, causing widespread destruction; setting large parts on fire, destroying the hospital’s entrances, and demolishing surrounding walls,” he said in a video statement. “Patients and medical staff were assaulted, with many patients and companions arrested, along with most of the medical staff. The fate of 30 medical personnel remains unknown.

“The (Israeli) army has removed the hospital from service entirely, destroying all its contents. There are now no medicines, medical supplies or food within the hospital.”

People comfort each other inside the Kamal Adwan hospital, as victims receive medical care following an Israeli strike that hit an area near the medical establishment in Beit Layia in the northern Gaza Strip early on November 21, 2024, reportedly leaving dozens of people killed or unaccounted for. (AFP)

Gaza’s health authority said that more than 600 people were trapped in Kamal Adwan during the Israeli military incursion.

Witnesses recounted chilling scenes. According to the Australian broadcaster ABC, Israeli soldiers beat patients until they bled, used dogs to intimidate children, and forced more than 100 men — many of them ill or injured — to strip down to their underwear in the cold before taking them away.

Hanan Balkhy, WHO’s regional director for the Eastern Mediterranean, said that after the Israeli soldiers withdrew, the hospital still had “195 patients, many of whom, along with displaced people, fear leaving due to safety concerns.”

“What they have endured is beyond words,” she wrote in a post on X.

She also said that “of the 70 hospital staff, reportedly 44 male staff members were detained. Only female staff, the hospital director, and another male doctor remain at the hospital. Some patients and displaced people were also reportedly detained.”

The Israeli military said that its operation targeted a “Hamas terrorist stronghold” and claimed to have detained about 100 militants. It also alleged that some Hamas fighters disguised themselves as medical staff, releasing a video in which an ambulance driver said that Hamas fighters were stationed at the hospital.

People gather as smoke rises from a UN school-turned-shelter after it was hit in an Israeli strike, in the Rimal neighbourhood of Gaza City in the northern Gaza Strip on November 14, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and the Hamas militant group. (AFP)

Both hospital staff and Hamas have denied any militant presence at the facility.

Despite the withdrawal of Israeli forces, Kamal Adwan continued to face bombardment. On Nov. 24, Abu Safiya, the hospital’s director, was injured in a quadcopter strike targeting his office. He described relentless attacks on the hospital’s emergency entrance, courtyard and oxygen station, which disrupted vital supplies and care.

In a statement sent to Arab News two days before the attack, Abu Safiya said: “While we were in the emergency department checking on the injured, a plane suddenly dropped bombs on the emergency reception entrance without prior warning.

People gather as smoke rises from a UN school-turned-shelter after it was hit in an Israeli strike, in the Rimal neighbourhood of Gaza City in the northern Gaza Strip on November 14, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and the Hamas militant group. (AFP)

“Four medical staff members were injured. When we transferred them to the radiology department to perform imaging for their injuries, those transporting the injured were targeted as well. Two other nursing staff members were critically injured and admitted to the intensive care unit.”

Abu Safiya added that the hospital courtyard was also bombed, severely damaging the power generators and the adjacent oxygen station, which disrupted the oxygen supply to multiple departments.

“This is not the first time Kamal Adwan Hospital has been bombed,” Abu Safiya said, referring to similar incidents in December 2022 and May 2023. During one earlier raid, Israeli forces reportedly barred doctors from providing care to critical patients, resulting in multiple deaths, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

A Palestinian man stares at the rubble of the Alloush family's house, levelled in an Israeli strike in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip on November 10, 2024. (AFP)

He wrote that the relentless strikes “resulted in 12 injuries among doctors, nurses and administrative staff within the emergency and reception areas.

“Additionally, there was significant damage that disrupted the electrical generator, oxygen supply network, and water supply, instilling terror and fear among the injured and patients, including children and women.”

At the hospital there were 86 injured individuals, eight cases in intensive care on ventilators, and 13 child patients, he said.

Palestinians carry down an injured child from a home that was hit in an Israeli strike on the Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip, on November 7, 2024. (AFP)

Malnutrition cases have also emerged in the pediatric department. Abu Safiya called on the international community “to intervene by sending surgical teams, medical supplies, and ambulances.”

The destruction of Kamal Adwan Hospital has drawn widespread condemnation from humanitarian organizations and rights groups. Medical Aid for Palestinians, a UK charity, described the attack as “another atrocity” by Israeli forces, while WHO chief Ghebreyesus demanded that the attacks on Kamal Adwan “must stop immediately.”

In a post on X on Nov. 25, he wrote that “continued attacks” on the hospital “have caused an additional 14 injuries in the past 48 hours, including the hospital director and the very few remaining doctors and nurses — this is deplorable.”

The Gaza health ministry said that the hospital’s destruction has left northern Gaza completely without medical services, further endangering the lives of thousands of civilians.

The hospital’s fate underscores the broader collapse of Gaza’s health care infrastructure amid the conflict. As of Nov. 5, only 17 of Gaza’s 36 hospitals remained partially operational, according to UN figures.

The Israeli military said in a joint statement with COGAT, which coordinates operations with the Palestinians in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, that it had facilitated the transfer of more than 300 patients, caregivers and medical staff from northern Gaza hospitals to safer areas.

On Nov. 24, the Israeli military said that it had transferred 17 patients and their caregivers from Kamal Adwan to other facilities as part of a campaign to ensure “operational medical centers” in Gaza.

The conflict has taken a devastating toll on Gaza’s civilian population. Since Hamas-led Palestinian militants launched a surprise attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7 last year, killing 1,200 people and abducting 240 others, Israel has responded with widespread airstrikes and ground operations.

According to a Reuters count, the Israeli offensive has resulted in more than 44,200 deaths and displaced hundreds of thousands. On Wednesday, Israeli military strikes across Gaza killed 15 people, some of them in a school housing displaced people, medics in Gaza said.

The destruction of Kamal Adwan Hospital has left many northern Gaza residents without access to medical care, exacerbating an already dire humanitarian crisis. For the people of northern Gaza, it was more than just a medical facility; it was a lifeline in a region under siege.

Its destruction has further deepened the suffering of a population caught in the throes of a war that has defied ceasefire efforts. The international community has called for urgent action to address the deteriorating situation, but for now, the hospital remains a stark symbol of the human cost of the Gaza conflict.

 


‘Stability and reconstruction of southern Lebanon key to regional stability’: PM

‘Stability and reconstruction of southern Lebanon key to regional stability’: PM
Updated 07 December 2024
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‘Stability and reconstruction of southern Lebanon key to regional stability’: PM

‘Stability and reconstruction of southern Lebanon key to regional stability’: PM
  • Cabinet approves army deployment plan south of Litani
  • Govt must take action on Lebanese political prisoners detained in Syria, says committee chief

BEIRUT: The Lebanese Cabinet on Saturday approved the deployment of the army south of the Litani River during an exceptional meeting at a military base in Tyre.
The plan is “part of a broader strategy that aims to ensure security in southern areas adjacent to the border with Israel,” Information Minister Ziad Makary said.
He added that the army had begun sending its forces to the south.
“However, the military institution needs additional support in terms of personnel and supplies, as well as modern equipment, to carry out its duties effectively,” Makary said.
The decision came 10 days after the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hezbollah went into effect following a destructive two-month war.
The ministers met in the Benoit Barakat barracks in the coastal city of Tyre, south of the Litani.
They were briefed by Lebanese Army chief Joseph Aoun, who delivered a presentation on strengthening the army’s deployment.
Ministers discussed a draft law to rebuild destroyed homes, put in place an agriculture damage survey mechanism and remove rubble created by Israeli raids in the south, Bekaa, as well as Beirut and its southern suburbs.
Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati reiterated Lebanon’s commitment to UN Resolution 1701 in a statement delivered before the ministers.
He said that the Lebanese Army would uphold the resolution south of the Litani River, in cooperation and coordination with the UNIFIL, as it is the basis for the ceasefire and Israel’s withdrawal from “our occupied land.”
He said: “We are kilometers from the ongoing operations of Israel’s army and its repetitive ceasefire violations.
“We are also near the location of the committee tasked with monitoring the implementation of the arrangements agreed upon under US and French guarantees.”
Mikati called on the international community, primarily the entities overseeing the security arrangements, to put an end to Israeli violations of the ceasefire.
He paid tribute to slain Lebanese Army soldiers and those who sacrificed themselves for the country.
“All the threats and attacks aiming to confuse or push us to change our national beliefs and choices will not scare us,” he said.
“We fully trust the wise army command, which assumes considerable responsibilities with professionalism, discipline and ethics, preserving every inch of our territory and safeguarding our national sovereignty.”
Mikati said that stability in the south and its reconstruction are key to stability in the Middle East, which will only return to security and safety through the implementation of international resolutions.
Makary said after the meeting that the Lebanese Army commander informed the ministers that the debris and ruins of destroyed buildings will be removed, along with the cleaning of areas in the south from cluster bombs.
The army will also deploy along the northern and eastern borders of Syria and take appropriate measures in response to events in the country, he added.
The cabinet allocated 4 trillion Lebanese pounds ($44 million) for the removal of debris, rubble and cluster munitions.
It is part of a comprehensive plan to restore the regions impacted by the war.
Mikati and the ministers, accompanied by Aoun, toured several military centers in Shawakir and Qleileh, as well as the headquarters of the Fifth Brigade in Bayada.
They met military personnel at the Qleileh center who were injured during an Israeli airstrike on the facility.
Also on Saturday, Israeli forces that penetrated the Lebanese border area continued their violations of the ceasefire agreement.
A military drone targeted a motorcycle in the town of Deir Siriane, killing its rider.
The Lebanese Army is observing the activities of Israeli forces in Kfar Kila and Khiam, where soldiers are demolishing buildings and residences.
In other developments, Wadad Halawani, the head of the Committee of Families of Kidnapped and Disappeared in Lebanon, addressed a press conference on Friday.
It followed developments in neighboring Syria and the long-running issue of missing and abducted Lebanese citizens.
Halawani called on the Lebanese state to assume its responsibilities on the issue.
She called for the establishment of a joint emergency committee that includes the relevant ministerial, security and judicial bodies, and the National Commission for the Missing and Forcibly Disappeared.
Its goal should be to negotiate with Syrian parties to identify released people and ensure their safe return to their families in Lebanon, along with providing health care and psychological support.
“What was circulated on social media concerning the release of a Lebanese among the prisoners who were freed from the Hama central prison stirred the emotions of the families of the missing,” Halawani said.
She added that Ali Hassan Al-Ali from Akkar — arrested by Syrian forces in 1986 and not seen until this week — appeared in a social media clip asking an activist who filmed him how to reach his family in Lebanon.
Halawani added that several Syrian organizations are following up on the issue of detainees and missing people.
The Syrian state had repeatedly denied that Lebanese political prisoners were jailed in the country, she added.
The most recent denial came from President Bashar Assad and former foreign minister Walid Muallem.