‘Operation Al-Aqsa Flood’ Day 60: Israel surrounds Kamal Adwan hospital, ‘shooting anything that moves’

Casualties

• 15,899+ killed*, including 6,150 children, and 42,000 wounded in the Gaza Strip.
• 260 Palestinians killed in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem
• Israel revises its estimated October 7 death toll down from 1,400 to 1,147.

*This figure was confirmed by the Gaza Ministry of Health on December 4. However, due to breakdowns in communication networks within the Gaza Strip (particularly in northern Gaza), the Gaza Ministry of Health has not been able to regularly and accurately update its tolls since mid-November. Some rights groups put the death toll number closer to 20,000.

Key Developments

• Palestinians were cut off from the internet and phone signals for the fourth time since Israel began bombing the Gaza Strip on October 7.
• 108 Palestinian martyrs were killed and arrived at the Kamal Adwan hospital in north Gaza Tuesday morning. Medical staff warned of an imminent Israeli raid into the hospital and the lack of supplies to perform surgeries, Al-Jazeera reported.
• 400 wounded people traveled through the Rafah crossing to Egypt in order to receive medical treatment on Tuesday, according to the Director General of the Ministry of Health.
• Israeli forces are planning to pump seawater into Gaza’s tunnels to force Hamas out, according to a report by Wall Street Journal, despite the fact that it’s believed some Israeli captives are being held inside them. 
• President of the UN General Assembly, Dennis Francis: “I’m deeply alarmed and saddened by the resumption of hostilities in the Middle East.”
• Israel concluded that Hamas spent years planning the surprise attack on October 7, and drew up detailed maps of the military bases and settlements based on information passed by spies.
• Muhammad Yousef Hassan Manasra, 25, was killed and his brother was arrested when Israeli forces stormed the Qalandia refugee camp, on Tuesday.
• The Israeli-controlled municipality of Jerusalem is blocking Palestinian children freed from Israeli prisons as part of the hostage exchange deal, from returning back to school.

Israeli forces bomb the vicinity of Kamal Adwan hospital, pound southern Gaza with airstrikes

At least 50 Palestinians were killed overnight in Israeli air raids that bombed the city of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip. Palestinians in the Gaza Strip were forced to endure the bombing campaign overnight with no access to internet or phone signal, after Israel cut off services in Gaza for the fourth time Israel did so since October 7th. 

In the past 24 hours, Israel bombed homes in Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip, killing at least 10 people, Wafa news reported. 

The area around the Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahiya in northern Gaza was also bombed overnight, sending panic among the thousands of Palestinian civilians, injured patients, and medical staff sheltering at the hospital. 

Al-Jazeera reported that more than 100 people have been killed in the vicinity of the hospital, indicating a ramping up of Israel’s attacks on the area. Attacking hospitals and their vicinities has been a major tactic used by Israel in the current war on Gaza in order to pressure civilians to flee from northern Gaza to the south, where Israel is also bombing.  

Medical staff have warned of an imminent Israeli raid into the hospital. Munir Al-Bursh, the Director General of the Ministry of Health, said that Israeli snipers and tanks are “shooting at anyone who moves” as they surround the hospital.

There are 7,000 people taking shelter in Kamal Adwan, Bursh estimated and added that 400 wounded people left through the Rafah crossing to receive medical treatment on Tuesday. However, there have been more than 40,000 people injured since October 7.

“We fear a massacre inside Kamal Adwan Hospital, as happened in [Al-Shifa’ Hospital] and the [Indonesian Hospital]”, he said, referring to two hospitals Israeli forces raided and forced medical staff and patients out of last month under the premise of searching for Hamas command centers, which have yet to be revealed.  

The staff at the hospital have said that they are facing an extreme shortage of supplies and the inability to perform surgeries due to power outages and lack of fuel. There are currently four hospitals operating at minimal capacity in the northern Gaza Strip. 

On Tuesday morning, communication and internet services resumed, bringing the news of Israeli tanks and war jets pummelling Nuseirat refugee camp and Gaza City’s Sheikh Radwan neighborhood in the north, as well as the city of Khan Younis.

Since the temporary truce ended on Friday morning, Israeli forces launched an incursion in the southern part of Gaza City near Al-Qarara town. Israel is attempting to cut the Gaza Strip into four areas: Gaza City in the north, Dier Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip, Khan Younis in the south, and the most southern border area of Rafah.

However, it is reported that over the past few days, Israeli forces have been facing mounting resistance from Palestinian fighters in Beit Hanoun, Al-Qarara, and Sheikh Radwan, all in the northern Strip.

Israeli raids destroyed a mosque in Al-Batn al-Sameen, an impoverished area west of Khan Younis, and bombed the town’s seaside. On Tuesday morning, at least 40 people were killed and transferred to Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis. It was also reported that ambulances were not able to reach many parts of the southern Gaza City to treat and evacuate the wounded due to the Israeli bombing. 

Israeli forces also bombed Deir Al-Balah town, the Al-Bureij, Al-Nuseirat, and Al-Maghazi refugee camps, and the vicinity of Al-Mamadani hospital. Last week, the military spokesperson said that Israeli forces have fired 90,000 shells and missiles on the Gaza Strip since October 7.

On Tuesday, the Municipality of Gaza warned that water wells could cease pumping drinking water in the upcoming hours. Israel’s destruction of infrastructure in the Gaza Strip led to sewage water seeping into groundwater and into the streets and contaminating wells and the water system.

Report: Israel plans to flood Hamas tunnels with seawater

Israeli forces are now planning to pump seawater into Gaza’s tunnels to force Hamas out, according to a report by Wall Street Journal, despite some Israeli captives are believed to be held inside them. 

WSJ said that Israeli forces set up five seawater pumps near Al-Shati refugee camp in November to flood the tunnels used by Hamas with thousands of cubic meters of seawater. The plan, which is yet to go ahead, threatens to damage Gaza’s soil.

“We are not sure how successful pumping will be since nobody knows the details of the tunnels and the ground around them,” a U.S. official familiar with the plan is quoted by WSJ.

“It’s impossible to know if that will be effective because we don’t know how seawater will drain in tunnels no one has been in before,” the official added.

Health ministry updates death toll, journalist death toll rises

On Monday evening, the Ministry of Health updated the death toll figures in the Gaza Strip. At least 15,899 martyrs have been killed, and 42,000 people have been injured since October 7.

Some rights groups have put the number much higher, with the Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor putting the number closer to 20,000 as far back as last month. 

Due to the collapse of Gaza’s healthcare system, communications blackouts, and the inability of medics and emergency crews to access bombed-out buildings and retrieve all the bodies trapped under the rubble, it has become increasingly difficult for Gaza’s health ministry to regularly update the death toll. 

Meanwhile, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said that 56 Palestinian, three Lebanese and four Israeli journalists were killed between October 7 and December 4. The Palestinian Journalists Syndicate has said that 67 Palestinian journalists and media workers have been killed since October 7. 

Hassan Farajallah, who worked with Al-Quds TV, was the latest Palestinian journalist killed on Sunday. Shima Al-Gazzar, a journalist with the Al-Magedat network, was killed alongside her family members in Rafah in an Israeli air strike.

“CPJ emphasizes that journalists are civilians doing important work during times of crisis and must not be targeted by warring parties,” said Sherif Mansour, CPJ’s Middle East and North Africa programme coordinator.

“Journalists across the region are making great sacrifices to cover this heart-breaking conflict. Those in Gaza, in particular, have paid, and continue to pay, an unprecedented toll and face exponential threats.”

WHO: Israeli forces notified us to empty medical warehouses in 24 hours

The president of the UN General Assembly, Dennis Francis, renewed calls for a lasting ceasefire in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday.

“I’m deeply alarmed and saddened by the resumption of hostilities in the Middle East,” he wrote on X platform.

“I reiterate my call for a longer-term humanitarian ceasefire; unconditional release of all remaining hostages & for unimpeded access to humanitarian aid to Palestinians,” he added.

A 193-majority vote in the UN General Assembly in late October called for a humanitarian truce. Fourteen countries voted against and 45 abstained.

The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Monday evening that it received a notification from Israeli forces “that we should remove our supplies from our medical warehouse in southern Gaza within 24 hours, as ground operations will put it beyond use.”

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO chief, wrote on the X platform: “We appeal to Israel to withdraw the order, and take every possible measure to protect civilians and civilian infrastructure, including hospitals and humanitarian facilities.”

An online row on X  ensued between WHO and Israeli officials, with Israel denying it issued such an order.

The Ministry of Defence’s body, which oversees Palestinian affairs, COGAT, wrote on X: “The truth is that we didn’t ask you to evacuate the warehouses and we also made it clear [and in writing] to the relevant UN representatives.”

Israeli forces surround Jabalia refugee camp, Palestinian resistance continues fight against ground forces

Israeli forces announced on Tuesday that five soldiers were killed in armed battles with Palestinian resistance fighters in Gaza. This brings the military death toll in Israel to 406 soldiers and police officers since October 7.

The military spokesperson said that Israeli forces are completely encircling the Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip. Along with Beit Lahia and Beit Hanoun, Jabalia was one of the first areas in north Gaza to see the Israeli ground incursion in late October. 

On Tuesday, Israeli forces bombed several areas in southern Lebanon, while the Hezbollah movement targeted several Israeli military bases and sites on Monday and Tuesday morning.

The Islamic Jihad’s armed wing, the Saraya Al-Quds Brigades, said that it targeted two Israeli tanks with RPG-29 shells on Tuesday morning in the Al-Shuja’iyya neighborhood, east of Gaza City.

It added in a statement on Tuesday: “We targeted a Zionist military vehicle with RPG-29 shells in the Al-Taqadum axis in the Al-Zaytoun neighborhood, east of Gaza.”

Hamas’ Izz El-Din Al-Qassam Brigades said on Tuesday that it attacked Israeli military vehicles in eastern Khan Yunis with 105mm Al-Yaseen, a Palestinian-manufactured anti-tank shell.

The Al-Qassam Brigades also launched a barrage of rockets on the city of Beer Al-Saba’ (Beersheva) in the al-Naqab desert (Negev), to the east of the Gaza Strip. Al-Jazeera reported that sirens went off in the city and that the Iron Dome intercepted seven missiles.

Over the weekend, Israel concluded that Hamas spent years planning the surprise attack on October 7 and drew up detailed maps of the military bases and settlements based on information passed by spies, The Guardian reported.

Hamas also fired a rocket on October 7 on the Sdot Micha military base where Israeli forces store Jericho ballistic missiles, which could carry nuclear warheads, Ynet reported.

Dozens arrested in West Bank raids, freed child prisoners prevented from returning to school in Jerusalem

In the occupied West Bank, 40 Palestinians were arrested overnight. In total, 3,580 people have been arrested and 260 killed since October 7.

In the Dheisheh refugee camp, south of Bethlehem, four people were injured with live bullets during an Israeli night raid. Israeli forces arrested 12 people, some of them Gazan workers, from Doha, Artas, and Wadi Al-Nis in the Bethlehem areas. 

Mahmoud Jawabra, the principal of Al-Khulafa Al-Rashidun School in the town of Doha was arrested. In Artas, Louay Shalash was arrested from his home, Wafa reported.

Israeli forces also arrested Palestinians from Jerusalem, Hebron, Jenin, Ramallah, and Nablus.

On Tuesday morning, Muhammad Yousef Hassan Manasra, 25, was killed, and his brother was arrested when Israeli forces stormed the Qalandia refugee camp in the central West Bank. 

Eyewitnesses told Wafa that Manasra was standing behind their house door when Israeli forces blew it up in Qalandia, which led to the disintegration of his body.

Another Palestinian, Ali Alqam, was also killed in Qalandia yesterday during an Israeli raid.

The Israeli-controlled municipality of Jerusalem is blocking Palestinian children freed from Israeli prisons as part of the hostage exchange deal from returning back to school.

The Wadi Hilweh Information Centre in Jerusalem said that Israeli-funded schools refused to let a number of students from Silwan, Al-Issawiya, and Sur Baher neighborhoods into classrooms upon their release from prison in November.

They are 50 Palestinian children from Jerusalem, freed from Israeli prisons as part of Israel-Hamas, and are now barred from returning to schools, Wafa reported.