In the late evening of Saturday 21 December 2024, at least one member of the medical staff at the Kamal Adwan Hospital, and possibly more civilians, were reportedly injured in an alleged Israeli bombardment of the hospital which sources said occurred without prior warning and involved a combination of airstrikes and/or drone strikes, shelling from tanks and/or artillery, shooting from quadcopter drones, and sniper fire.

The Palestinian Press Agency (SAFA), citing the Director of the Kamal Adwan Hospital Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, reported that one of the hospital’s medical staff was injured in the bombardment, whilst Al Jazeera – citing its correspondent Hani Mahmoud, who was based in Deir al-Balah at the time – reported “many injuries” from bullets. In the absence of more specific information, Airwars has recorded the number of injured civilians as ranging between one and ten.

None of the available sources reported that any deaths – civilian or otherwise – resulted from the bombardment.

Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, speaking in a recorded phone call to Al Jazeera during the bombardment and in a later video recorded by local Al Jazeera journalist Anas al-Sharif, reported that, without prior warning, the Kamal Adwan Hospital had come under a sustained and “unprecedented” bombardment by Israeli forces which lasted for over an hour. The Director reported bombing, as well as direct shelling and shooting from tanks, quadcopter drones and sniper fire. He reported that multiple hospital departments had been damaged by the bombardment, including the intensive care unit and the maternity and neo-natal wards. He noted that the hospital had received notice that it would shortly be evacuated and expressed his concern regarding the feasibility of withdrawing staff and equipment and the impact that this would have on the hospital’s 66 patients. Dr. Abu Safiya went on to highlight that Kamal Adwan Hospital was the last functioning hospital in North Gaza. Dr. Abu Safiya appealed to the outside world for help and an intervention to stop the bombardment.

An image posted on Facebook by the journalist Anas al-Sharif showed what appeared to be a laser gunsight being directed at the hospital in the darkness.

Further images taken and posted by Anas al-Sharif showed numerous civilians, including women, children and patients – some lying in hospital beds with what appeared to be severe injuries – sheltering in hospital corridors.

Another image posted on Facebook by the Jordan News Agency (Petra) allegedly showed severe damage to the neo-natal care department, with rubble from the ceiling lying among damaged hospital beds.

Where sources identified the belligerent, all sources attributed the bombardment to the Israeli military.