The strike hit the upper floor of the hospital on Sunday, killing at least seven people and wounding several others, according to the Palestinian Civil Defence.
The Israeli military said it struck a “Hamas control centre” inside the building, which it claimed was no longer serving as a hospital.
Also on Sunday, the Israeli military released footage claiming to show the “evacuation” of Palestinian civilians from one of northern Gaza’s last functioning hospitals which it raided earlier this week.
The Kamal Adwan Hospital’s director and dozens of other staff were detained in the raid, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. The ministry said Israeli troops stormed the hospital, forced many staff and patients outside and told them to strip in winter weather.
Israel’s military said more than 240 people were detained in total.
Without providing evidence, the IDF called the hospital director a suspected Hamas operative. It said it encircled the hospital and special forces entered and found weapons in the area. Palestinian officials have denied the facility is used by militants.
The hospital has been hit multiple times over the past three months by Israeli troops waging an offensive in largely isolated northern Gaza against Hamas fighters it says have regrouped.
Fourth baby dies of cold in Gaza
A fourth infant has died of hypothermia in the Gaza Strip, where hundreds of thousands of Palestinians displaced by nearly 15 months of war are huddled in tents along the rainy, windswept coast as winter arrives.
Jomaa al-Batran, 20 days old, was found with his head as “cold as ice” when his parents woke up Sunday, his father, Yehia, said. The baby’s twin brother, Ali, was moved to the intensive care unit of Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital.
Their father said the twins were born one month premature and spent just a day in the nursery at the hospital, which like other health centres in Gaza has been overwhelmed and is only partially functioning.
He said medics told their mother to keep the newborns warm, but it was impossible because they live in a tent and temperatures regularly drop below 10 degrees Celsius at night.
“We are eight people, and we only have four blankets,” al-Batran said as he cradled his son’s pale body. He described drops of dew seeping through the tent cover overnight. “Look at his colour because (of) the cold. Do you see how frozen he is?”
Children, some of them barefoot, stood outdoors and watched him mourn. The shrouded infant was laid at the feet of an imam, barely larger than his shoes. After prayers, the imam took off his ankle-length coat and wrapped it around the father.
“Feel warm, my brother,” he said.
At least three other babies have died from the cold in recent weeks, according to local health officials.
The war began when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting around 250, including women, children and older adults. Around 100 hostages are still inside Gaza, at least a third of whom are believed to be dead.
Israel’s subsequent offensive has killed over 45,000 Palestinians and wounded more than 100,000, according to local health authorities.
They say women and children make up more than half the deaths, but do not distinguish between militants and civilians in their count.
Israel says it has killed over 17,000 militants, without providing evidence.
Israel’s bombardment and ground operations have displaced some 90% of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million people, often multiple times.
Vast areas of the territory, including entire neighbourhoods, are in ruins, and critical infrastructure has been destroyed.
