Israel arrests hospital director and other staff in raid on last functioning facility in northern Gaza, health officials say

(CNN) — Israel arrested a hospital director in a raid that closed the last major functioning health facility in northern Gaza, with its forces also accused of ordering patients to strip in the streets.

Kamal Adwan Hospital is “now empty” after the remaining patients – some of them critically ill – along with caregivers and health workers were transferred to the Indonesian Hospital in Beit Lahiya, the World Health Organization said.

The facility has come under frequent Israeli fire in recent months and its closure exacerbates a dire humanitarian situation in northern Gaza.

The whereabouts of Kamal Adwan’s director, Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, and other staff are unclear, friends, family and colleagues say.

“We do not know the fate of Dr. Hussam. He was actually threatened by the army as soon as they arrived at the hospital,” a nurse from Kamal Adwan Hospital, Rawiya Al Batsh, told CNN.

In a statement shared with CNN Sunday, Abu Safiya’s family said: “We do not know the fate of our father, and we urge you to take action by applying media pressure, making appeals, and sharing news reports to help us push for his swift release from captivity.”

Two Palestinian prisoners released this weekend from Israel’s notorious Sde Teiman detention center said they saw Abu Safiya at the prison, and another former detainee said he heard Abu Safiya’s name being read out. CNN cannot independently verify their accounts. CNN has reached out to the Israeli military to confirm whether Abu Safiya is held at the center.

The Israeli military acknowledged Saturday it had detained Dr. Abu Safiya, saying he was “suspected of being a Hamas terrorist operative.”

Local journalist Mohammad Al-Sharif told CNN he was with Abu Safiya up until the doctor was arrested. He said the doctor was “beaten and dragged by his clothes.”

Waleed Al Buddi, a nurse who worked at Kamal Adwan Hospital, told CNN on Saturday that Abu Safiya was allowed to leave after Israeli security forces interrogated him at the Al Fakhoura school next to the hospital. Al Buddi, who was also interrogated and later released, said Abu Safiya refused to leave without the rest of his staff. Later that evening, some of the staff were released, while others including Abu Safiya, were arrested, Al Buddi said.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it raided the area of the hospital and detained at least 240 “Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists,” alleging the facility was being used as a “Hamas terror stronghold.”

“Individuals are being questioned. Those found not to be involved in terrorist activities are released,” the IDF said.

Hamas, in a statement Saturday, called on “the United Nations and all relevant international institutions to urgently intervene.”

“We demand the sending of international observers to these facilities to ascertain the truth of what is happening and to refute the lies and claims of the occupation regarding their use for military purposes,” the statement read.

Israeli forces launched a renewed aerial and ground incursion in several parts of northern Gaza in early October this year, saying they were targeting a resurgent Hamas presence there. The onslaught has razed streets to carpets of debris, killed entire families, and severely depleted food, water and medical stocks.

‘No limit to the beating’

On Friday, Dr. Safiya said in a post on social media that Israeli forces were besieging the facility, “and issuing orders for its evacuation.” Multiple nurses have said staff and patients were then ordered to leave the hospital and gather outside.

Once outside, staff and patients were separated by gender and both men and women were told to remove their clothes, two nurses told CNN. “Those who refused to remove their clothing were beaten,” Shorouq Saleh Al-Rantisi, a nurse working in the laboratory, said on Friday.

After hours of being held, they were forced to move to the nearby Indonesian Hospital, the staff said, a facility the WHO has described as “destroyed and nonfunctional.”

Some patients said they asked to be transferred to the Indonesian Hospital, but were not allowed.

“They told us to sit down. After gathering everyone, they made us strip down to our underwear in the cold,” Abdulrahman Rayan told CNN, adding that a significant number of people were detained and injured patients were beaten.

“There was no limit to the beating. They struck people on the head with hoses. They dragged three people at a time, including an injured person with a cast, and beat them on their heads,” added Rayan. “They spared no one – not the injured, not the elderly, not the children.”

Other patients were allegedly made to walk hours on foot to a school in northern Gaza, alongside medical staff. “They made us strip down to our underwear. It was a tough situation, and they assaulted the wounded and women,” Abu Mahmoud Al-Attawi, an injured patient, told CNN on Friday.

“We were told to gather in the hospital yard. They ordered us to remove our clothes, and after complying, we were taken to a location near the hospital yard,” local journalist Ahmad Al-Sharif recounted, “I was detained from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. and lived under extremely harsh conditions. When I asked for water, the army officer insulted and cursed me with unbearable words.”

The IDF said it had helped evacuate staff and patients ahead of the operation, later adding that “an additional 95 patients, caregivers and medical personnel” were taken to the Indonesian Hospital “to maintain and operate essential systems.”

It is often necessary for terror suspects to take off their clothes so that their clothes can be searched and to ensure that they are not concealing explosive vests or other weaponry. According to IDF guidelines, as soon as possible after the search, their clothing is returned to them or alternative clothing is provided.”

Asked by CNN about the allegations of strip searches and beatings of patients, as well as if they had evidence to the claims against Dr. Abu Safiya, the IDF responded the claims, saying, “The detention of suspects involved in terrorism, their arrest, and the search conducted on their bodies were carried out in accordance with international law.

Video sent by nurse Rawiya Al Batsh from the Indonesian Hospital, seen by CNN, showed upturned furniture and tattered blankets strewn along the dusty corridors. The buzz of Israeli drones can be heard overhead.

CNN has reached to the Israeli military asking for comment on allegations that men and women were forced to strip.

Several staff also reported a large fire breaking out. Al Batsh told CNN that the blaze broke out in the hospital after Israeli strikes on the building, with staff forced to use water from a kidney dialysis machine to fight the flames.

“Unfortunately, this water was mixed with chlorine and other substances, resulting in burns on their hands and faces,” Al Batsh said, adding one patient died in the fire.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) told CNN that “there was a small fire in an empty building inside the hospital that is under control,” adding that it is “unaware” of allegations that the fire was caused by IDF gunfire. It added that its troops “are operating in the area of the hospital and not inside of it.”

An audio message from staff at Kamal Adwan said that surgical departments, laboratory, maintenance, and emergency units have been completely burned.

The WHO has previously said that Israeli authorities have repeatedly denied humanitarian access to Kamal Adwan Hospital and just this week said that a request to deploy international emergency medical teams was denied by Israeli authorities, “despite the need for immediate surgical interventions for injured patients.”

Some patients were taken to Al Shifa Hospital in Gaza City. CNN footage shows patients who had arrived from Kamal Adwan Hospital, including women, children and those with special needs.

In the video, a man with special needs is trying to explain what happened to him, making signs of gunfire and gestures indicating that he has been beaten on his arms and face. He arrived alone and his bare feet are covered in dust.

The patient’s name is Khaled Hazzaa, according to another man stood nearby who says he is Hazzaa’s nephew. The man says they had not seen each other for 82 days until Al Shifa Hospital called him. Hazzaa was being treated at Kamal Adwan Hospital, the man says.

Another woman CNN spoke to at Al Shifa Hospital said she arrived at Kamal Adwan hospital for treatment two days ago after her house was hit in an Israeli strike and her son was killed. During the raid on Friday, Fatmeh Al Najjar also said that men and women were interrogated and then soldiers “took us in military vehicles and left us at Abu Sharekh roundabout. From there, they told us to walk south.”

MedGlobal, the US-based nonprofit Abu Safiya was lead physician in Gaza for, also expressed concern for the doctor and condemned the raid on the hospital.

Dr. Zaher Sahloul, president and co-founder of MedGlobal and a close colleague of Abu Safiya, said on Sunday: “Dr. Abu Safiya has dedicated his life to protecting the health and lives of children in Gaza, providing care under conditions no medical professional should have to endure. His arrest is not only unjust – it is a violation of international humanitarian law, which upholds the protection of medical personnel in conflict zones. We urgently call for the immediate and unconditional release of Dr. Abu Safiya.”

In a Friday statement, the group’s Country Director for Gaza, Rajaa Musleh, said Abu Safiya and his team are the “lifeline of healthcare provision” in northern Gaza.

Khader Al Za’anoun of Wafa, the official Palestinian news agency, contributed to this report. This story has been updated

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