The Israeli occupation forces have killed at least 300 doctors since the beginning of the aggression on the Gaza Strip.
Israel “brutally murdered” Al-Shifa Hospital’s emergency department head, Dr. Hani Al-Haitham, alongside his wife and their five children, Norwegian doctor Mads Gilbert announced on X on Monday.
“Yesterday [Sunday] my good friend and dear colleague, Dr. Hani Al-Haitham, head of Shifa emergency department, was brutally murdered by Israel, along with his beloved wife, Dr. Sameera Ghifari and their five children Shireen, Tia, Sameer, Wafa & Sara,” Dr. Gilbert said.
The Norwegian doctor added that Israeli forces killed seven other unarmed civilians “in cold blood”.
“Another attack on all of us, on all humankind. You will never be forgotten, we pledge: we will rebuild Shifa, Gaza, Palestine!” Dr. Gilbert added.
Israeli occupation forces have been targeting hospitals and medics as a key part of their war on Gaza.
Israeli forces have killed at least 300 doctors since the beginning of the aggression on the strip, Gaza’s media office said on Monday. A total of 23 out of 35 hospitals in Gaza are also non-operational due to the Israeli bombardment, raids and a significant shortage of key resources.
The army raided the Al-Shifa Medical complex, the largest in Gaza, in November, forcing thousands of displaced and wounded Palestinians to evacuate to the south.
Euro-Med said on Tuesday that there are approximately 450 severely injured Palestinians in the north of Gaza without access to medical services.
“This is an urgent call to the international community who has committed to provide humanitarian aid to Palestinians. This is the bare minimum they can do,” the rights group said.
Al-Shifa Hospital director Muhammad Abu Salmiya was kidnapped by Israeli forces on November 23. His whereabouts remain unknown.
On Saturday, Israeli forces raided the Kamal Adwan Hospital and bulldozed tents housing displaced Palestinians in the building’s vicinity, Al Jazeera’s correspondent Anas Al-Sharif revealed. Al-Sharif said many Palestinians were buried alive as the bulldozers ripped through the tents.
“The occupation [Israeli] bulldozers trampled the tents of the displaced people in the hospital yard and brutally crushed them,” Al-Sharif said in a video report on the incident.
Palestine’s health ministry called for an international probe into the incident on Saturday.
On Sunday evening, Israel carried out a massacre at the Nasser Hospital, bombing the maternity building. Among the victims was a 13-year-old girl identified as Dina Abu Mehsen.
In a statement to Al Jazeera, Gaza’s Health Ministry spokesperson Ashraf Al-Qudra said Israel has been attempting to “eliminate” the strip’s health sector.
“Targeting Nasser Medical Complex is part of the occupation’s policy to eliminate the health sector and would bring down the health system in the southern Gaza Strip,” he added.
Since the start of the Israel’s recent war on Gaza, more than 19,000 Palestinians have been killed and more than 52,000 wounded, according to Palestine’s health ministry.
Euro-Med reported a much higher figure on Sunday of 25,612, including 10,091 children and those presumed dead under the rubble. The European agency has not updated the figure since December 17.
