Israeli forces detained more than 240 Palestinians including dozens of medical staff from a north Gaza hospital they raided on Friday, including its director, according to the Health Ministry in the enclave and Israel’s military.
The Health Ministry said it was concerned for the wellbeing of Hussam Abu Safiya, director of the Kamal Adwan Hospital, as some staff freed by the Israeli military late on Friday said he had been beaten up by soldiers.
The Israeli military said the hospital was being used as a command centre for Hamas military operations and those arrested were suspected militants. It said Abu Safiya had been taken for questioning as he was suspected of being a Hamas operative.
On Friday, Hamas dismissed Israel’s assertion that its fighters had operated from the hospital throughout the 15-month-old Gaza war, saying no fighters had been in the hospital. The group had not yet commented on the 240 arrests.
Some patients were evacuated from Kamal Adwan to the Indonesian Hospital, which is not in service, and medics were prevented from joining them there, the Health Ministry said. Other patients and staff were taken to other medical facilities.
Separately, the Gaza Health Ministry said Israeli strikes across the enclave had killed 18 Palestinians on Saturday, at least nine of them in a house in Maghazi camp in central Gaza.
The Israeli military had no immediate comment on the strikes and fatalities.
Palestinians have accused Israel of carrying out ethnic cleansing by depopulating those areas to create a buffer zone. Israel denies it is doing this, saying it aims to prevent Hamas fighters from regrouping in the areas.
The Israeli military said on Saturday it had begun operating overnight against targets in the Beit Hanoun area, adding that “troops are enabling civilians still in the area to move away for their own safety”.
It then ordered residents to leave and head towards southern parts of the Strip, saying rockets had been fired from the area.
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