The Electronic Intifada 23 December 2024
At Kamal Adwan hospital in northern Gaza, Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya has become a symbol of resilience in the face of unimaginable horror. That horror is ongoing as the hospital and surrounding area remained under Israeli attack this past weekend. Injured, traumatized and fearful people taking shelter there are facing the threat of forced evacuation.
The pediatrician and hospital director has endured weeks of relentless Israeli bombardment, the death of his 15-year-old son, Ibrahim, and even his own injury, all while refusing to abandon his patients. Amid the siege of his hospital – with Israeli bombardment continuing over this past week – Abu Safiya’s story underscores the human cost of war and the extraordinary courage it takes to preserve life in the face of death.
Since the beginning of October, Israel’s military campaign in northern Gaza has devastated towns like Jabaliya, Beit Lahiya and Beit Hanoun, displacing approximately 100,000-130,000 Palestinians and killing hundreds. The region’s three hospitals, including Kamal Adwan hospital in Beit Lahiya, have borne the brunt of these attacks, pushed to the brink of collapse under siege and bombardment. Israel has justified its operations with unsubstantiated claims of militant activity within these facilities, allegations vehemently denied by local medical staff and humanitarian organizations.
Kamal Adwan hospital’s ordeal began in earnest on 25 October. At 2 am, Israeli artillery shelled the hospital, destroying vital medical supplies and its dialysis unit, while severing the oxygen generator.
The lives of two children in the intensive care unit were claimed by the resulting oxygen failure. Hours later, Israeli troops stormed the facility, detaining hundreds of patients, staff and displaced civilians sheltering within its walls.
Abu Safiya was among those briefly detained during the raid.
“The Israeli army detained me and demanded that I evacuate the hospital,” Abu Safiya told The Electronic Intifada in a telephone interview – and other journalists as well. “I refused and assured them that there were only patients inside. But they arrested 57 staff members, leaving us with a severe shortage of doctors, especially surgeons. Now, only I and one other pediatrician remain,” he said after the assault.
The cost of Abu Safiya’s defiance was personal and devastating. During the raid, an Israeli drone targeted his 15-year-old son, Ibrahim, killing him at the hospital entrance.
“I refused to leave the hospital and sacrifice my patients, so the army punished me by killing my son,” Hussam Abu Safiya shared with journalists contacting him about the situation at his hospital. In the aftermath, he buried Ibrahim near the hospital wall so his son could remain close to him.
The days following the 28 October withdrawal of Israeli forces brought no respite. Attacks on the hospital resumed, temporarily culminating on 31 October when shelling destroyed another shipment of medical supplies provided by the World Health Organization (WHO).
According to a WhatsApp press statement shared by Abu Safiya, as he often does, a WHO delegation came to evacuate patients on 3 November during which the pediatric ward was targeted by Israeli fire, wounding several people, including a 13-year-old girl. On 4 and 5 November, repeated strikes damaged water tanks, further compounding the hospital’s dire conditions.
Lifeline
Despite these hardships, Kamal Adwan hospital remains a critical lifeline for the people of northern Gaza. The hospital in early November accommodated more than 120 patients, with wounded civilians continuing to arrive daily, often carried on makeshift stretchers or in animal-drawn carts.
“Ambulances are out of service after repeated attacks,” Abu Safiya explained. “We are forced to choose between patients due to the overwhelming numbers of wounded. I never imagined living through such tragic moments.”
On the night of 23 November, the hospital faced another direct attack. A drone strike targeted Abu Safiya’s office moments after he exited the operating room, leaving him seriously wounded with shrapnel injuries to his leg.
Medical staff struggled to provide adequate care due to the lack of specialists and equipment. “Our healthcare system is on the verge of collapse,” said a nurse, describing the hospital’s inability to perform even basic diagnostics or surgical interventions.
Speaking from his hospital bed in a WhatsApp press statement on 24 November, Abu Safiya declared, “This will not stop us. I was injured at my workplace, and that is an honor. My blood is no more precious than that of my colleagues or the people we serve. I will return to my patients as soon as I recover.”
The attacks on Kamal Adwan hospital are part of a broader strategy that has seen Israel intensify its assault on Gaza since 7 October 2023. Backed by American support, the campaign has killed over 45,000 Palestinians (approximately two percent of Gaza’s population), displaced hundreds of thousands and left much of the enclave in ruins.
Three unburied Palestinian bodies inside Israeli-besieged Kamal Adwan hospital in northern Gaza on 22 December. They were buried the next day under dangerous conditions.
The Electronic IntifadaHealth services are collapsing under the strain, with humanitarian corridors blocked and medical personnel targeted.
The Israeli military claimed its actions were based on “precise intelligence” and alleged the presence of militants posing as hospital staff. However, the only evidence presented was the coerced testimony of a detainee and photographs of weapons allegedly found near the hospital.
Abu Safiya dismissed these accusations, telling The Electronic Intifada: “This is a hospital. We do not ask patients for their political affiliations. Our mission is to provide care to all who need it.”
On 4 December, Abu Safiya released a WhatsApp audio statement to the media describing the ongoing conditions at his hospital. “Drones are dropping bombs filled with shrapnel, injuring anyone in their path. The situation has become extremely dangerous. Kamal Adwan hospital has been subjected to a barbaric assault by drones, and once again, the occupation focuses its aggression on medical teams.”
He added, “Just moments ago, three members of our medical staff were injured. One of them is in critical condition and is currently undergoing a complex surgical procedure in the operating room.”
The pediatrician, however, remains steadfast in his commitment to his patients, even as the hospital faces the threat of complete destruction.
“We are a health institution serving the sick and wounded, not a battleground,” he said by telephone to The Electronic Intifada. “The continued targeting of this hospital is a deliberate attempt to silence us. But I will not back down. My profession is my duty, and I will continue to deliver my humanitarian message until my last breath.”
Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya’s courage and perseverance shine through the darkness of Gaza’s ongoing siege. As Kamal Adwan hospital teeters on the edge of collapse, his story stands as a testament to the resilience of those who fight not with weapons, but with compassion and humanity.
Latest horrors
The Electronic Intifada spoke by telephone one further time last Wednesday with Abu Safiya to discuss the developments of the previous day which he described as “one of the darkest, most difficult and bloodiest days at Kamal Adwan hospital.” The doctor shared much the same message with other journalists.
The hospital, he said, was “targeted by warplanes, which struck more than eight buildings in its vicinity. One of these buildings was inhabited.” Some of the fleeing people were “engulfed in flames.” Describing the incident as a “horrific attack,” Abu Safiya said eight people were killed and that “children remain trapped beneath the charred rubble.”
The situation further deteriorated when “bulldozers and tanks entered the area, firing directly at the hospital from all directions.”
The damage to the hospital was severe. “The intensive care unit, located on the western side, was directly hit. Tank shells struck the unit, igniting a fire that forced us to evacuate patients urgently. Miraculously, we managed to save the oxygen cylinders in the emergency room. Unfortunately, the isolation ward was completely burned down.”
With limited resources the fire was difficult to control. “By the grace of God, we managed to extinguish the fire with our bare hands, as no fire extinguishers were available, and the water supply had been cut off. We used blankets and our bare hands to control the flames.”
Despite the devastating scene, Abu Safiya and his colleagues continue to persevere notwithstanding an intensive care unit he describes as resembling “a war zone, with bullets piercing equipment, walls and windows.”
He remains stunned by the intense Israeli violence targeting his hospital and the silence of so many in the face of weeks of his hospital being bombarded.
“It is incomprehensible why we are being targeted in such a brutal manner. For over 75 days, we have been calling out to the world, yet nothing has been done. This apathy enables the occupiers to escalate their violence, and I fear they will continue targeting other departments, potentially destroying the hospital before the eyes of the world. Tragically, this is our reality.”
The reality continued to worsen over this past weekend with some 400 people, including patients, at the hospital facing the threat of evacuation under perilous circumstances.
Journalist Islam Ahmed from inside the hospital told The Electronic Intifada on Sunday that the number of patients had risen from 66 to 85 over the weekend and that approximately 10 bodies were lying in the street north of the hospital. On Monday, Abu Safiya put the number of patients at 91 while saying that “the bombing has not ceased throughout the night, destroying homes and surrounding buildings.” He described an “extremely horrifying situation” and called for “urgent international intervention before it is too late.”
In a follow-up conversation on Monday, Ahmed said three bodies inside the hospital over the weekend, including that of Ameena al-Mufti, a girl hit in an Israeli drone strike, had been buried earlier in the day under extremely difficult circumstances.
Stepping outside the hospital, Ahmed says, is life-threatening. Sounds of gunfire could be heard during The Electronic Intifada’s interview with him Sunday night.
Abu Safiya in a weekend statement insisted that evacuation as called for through an Israeli loudspeaker would take days, not hours, if even possible. The Indonesian hospital in Beit Lahiya, he said, would have to be readied and there was a lack of ambulances to transport patients.Once again, as on so many occasions in recent weeks, he appealed to an unlistening world.
Fedaa al-Qedra is a journalist in Gaza.
