Israel denies Hamas claims that troops set fire to north Gaza’s Kamal Adwan Hospital

The IDF on Saturday denied Hamas allegations that Israeli troops had set fire to the Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza. Nevertheless, the incident drew fierce condemnation from Arab states.

IDF spokesperson Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani pushed back on Hamas’s account. “While IDF troops were not in the hospital, a small fire broke out in an empty building inside the hospital that is under control,” he said, adding that a preliminary investigation had found “no connection” between military activity and the fire.

“Running with unsubstantiated reports on the cause of this fire shows nothing but questionable journalistic integrity,” said Shoshani.

Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry had accused Israeli troops of setting fires in several parts of Kamal Adwan, including the lab and surgery department, and said that 25 patients and 60 health workers remain in the hospital.

The ministry also said Israeli troops had entered the hospital, taken staff and patients outside and forced them to strip in winter weather. Unverified video circulating on social media purported to show patients and staff being marched outside in front of IDF tanks.

The IDF said it had been conducting operations against Hamas infrastructure and operatives in the area, and that it had ordered people out of the hospital. However, the IDF denied entering the Kamal Adwan complex as of Friday evening.

After Hamas accused Israel of storming and setting fire to Kamal Adwan, Arab states rushed to denounce Israeli operations.

Jordan’s foreign ministry said Amman “condemns in the strongest terms the burning of Kamal Adwan Hospital in the northern Gaza Strip by the Israeli occupation forces, and forcing patients and medical staff to evacuate it.”

The statement added that the reported Israeli military actions were “a flagrant violation of international law and international humanitarian law.”

A statement from the United Arab Emirates foreign ministry echoed the Jordanian statement, stressing Abu Dhabi’s “categorical rejection of this heinous act that violates international humanitarian law, and the systematic and reprehensible destruction of the remaining health system in the Strip.”

Saudi Arabia also issued a statement decrying the Israeli operations and claiming they violate “international law, international humanitarian law, and the most basic humanitarian and ethical standards.”

Hamas has fought from within hospitals throughout the war and even periodically hid some of the Israeli hostages kidnapped in its October 7, 2023, massacre inside. International law prohibits targeting hospitals during wartime, but hospitals can lose this protection if used for military purposes.

People check the damage outside the Kamal Adwan hospital in the northern Gaza Strip, December 6, 2024. (AFP)

The IDF, which last operated against Hamas at Kamal Adwan in October, said earlier Friday that the hospital had “once again become a key stronghold for terrorist organizations and continues to be used as a hideout for terrorist operatives.”

The IDF also said it had “facilitated the secure evacuation of civilians, patients, and medical personnel prior to the operation” to mitigate civilian harm.

Since October, Israel has intensified its land and air offensive in northern Gaza, stating its goal is to prevent Hamas from regrouping in the area.

Israel had ordered civilians to evacuate the area amid preparations to invade Gaza in response to the Hamas onslaught last year, which saw thousands of terrorists storm southern Israel to kill some 1,200 people and take 251 hostages.

It is believed that 96 of the hostages abducted by Hamas on October 7 remain in Gaza, including the bodies of at least 34 confirmed dead by the IDF.

IDF troops operate in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip in a photo cleared for publication on November 28, 2024. (Israel Defense Forces)

Hamas released 105 civilians during a weeklong truce in late November, and four hostages were released before that. Eight hostages have been rescued by troops alive, and the bodies of 38 hostages have also been recovered, including three mistakenly killed by the military as they tried to escape their captors.

Hamas is also holding two Israeli civilians who entered the Strip in 2014 and 2015, as well as the bodies of two IDF soldiers who were killed in 2014.

The Hamas health ministry says more than 45,000 people in the Strip have been killed or are presumed dead in the fighting so far. The toll, which cannot be verified, does not differentiate between civilians and fighters. Israel says it has killed some 18,000 combatants in battle as of November and another 1,000 terrorists inside Israel during the Hamas onslaught.