Israel killed at least 26 people and injured more than 60 – including children and women – in an air strike on a home in the Nuseirat refugee camp, in the central Gaza Strip, according to Al-Awda Hospital.
The raid took place in the early evening on Friday and “damaged multiple neighbouring houses”, civil defence agency spokesman Mahmoud Basal told the AFP news agency.
Israel’s military carried out several deadly attacks over the past day as it laid siege to the Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahiya and the surrounding area in northern Gaza.
One such attack – caught on video in a clip authenticated by Al Jazeera’s Sanad verification unit – involved Israeli forces opening fire on a Palestine Red Crescent Society ambulance.
Attacking a hospital
On Friday, Israeli forces killed about 30 people when they stormed the Kamal Adwan Hospital under cover of heavy artillery fire and air attacks, according to Dr Eid Sabbah, director of nursing at the hospital.
“People that we didn’t know were sent inside the hospital wearing different uniforms and equipped with weapons and speakers,” Sabbah said.
“They sent a message to [hospital director] Dr Hussam Abu Safia and his colleagues… to evacuate the hospital, including patients and medical staff. They asked them to evacuate towards the tanks,” he said.
“This operation led to the killing of 30 people inside the hospital including four staff members. They were targeted and killed.”
Witness accounts also suggest the Israeli army used drones to target Palestinians inside the hospital.
Medical facilities, their staff and vehicles are protected under the Geneva Convention.
Trapping frightened people
Norwegian doctor Mads Gilbert, who worked extensively as an emergency surgeon across Gaza, said he believed the Israeli military is using the medical facility as a “trap”.
“This has been repeatedly happening. Israeli forces … attack the surroundings, then when people run to the hospital for help they attack the hospital,” Gilbert said.
“It seems therefore that the Israeli military is using Kamal Adwan as a trap to apprehend or kill those it wants to.”
On Friday, the Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza accused the Israeli military of committing a war crime in Kamal Adwan.
The World Health Organization said Israeli forces had bombed the facility apparently without warning its staff.
To justify its actions, Israel claims Hamas fighters are using civilian buildings, including hospitals and schools, for operational cover throughout the 14-month Gaza war.
Hamas has denied this, accusing Israel of indiscriminate bombings and assaults.
The Palestinian Health Ministry said the three main hospitals in the north of the enclave are barely functioning and have been under repeated attack since Israel sent tanks into Beit Lahiya and nearby Beit Hanoon and Jabalia in October.
