50 Palestinians killed in Israeli strike near Kamal Adwan Hospital in Gaza

GAZA CITY, Palestine

Nearly 50 Palestinians were killed Thursday in an Israeli airstrike on a building opposite the headquarters of Kamal Adwan Hospital in the northern Gaza Strip, including three medical staff and workers.

"There are nearly 50 martyrs, including three of our medical staff, under the rubble of a building opposite Kamal Adwan Hospital in the Beit Lahia Project area after it was bombed by Israeli warplanes,” Hussam Abu Safia, the hospital’s director, said in a statement.

Abu Safia said the medical staff and workers were present in the targeted building because they were staying there with their families.

He identified the slain staffers as Ahmed Samour, a pediatrician, Israa, a laboratory technician, and Fares, a maintenance technician at the hospital.

Israel launched a large-scale ground offensive in northern Gaza on Oct. 5 to allegedly prevent the Palestinian group Hamas from regrouping. Palestinians, however, accuse Israel of seeking to occupy the area and forcibly displace its residents.

Since then, no sufficient humanitarian aid including food, medicine and fuel has been allowed into the area, leaving the remaining population on the verge of imminent famine.

Israel has killed more than 45,000 people in Gaza since an Oct. 7, 2023 cross-border attack by Hamas, reducing the enclave to rubble.

Last month, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.

*Writing by Rania Abu Shamala