On 23rd December 2024, at least 20 people, including five medical staff members, were injured, after alleged Israeli booby traps located outside Kamal Adwan Hospital in Khan Younis in the Gaza Strip exploded. The explosives reportedly caused significant damage to Kamal Adwan Hospital and the surrounding streets.

Several news outlets, including Safa News, Al Jazeera, and BBC News Arabic, reported on the incident. At 11.46 pm on 23rd December Safa News wrote that there was “severe damage”  to Kamal Adwan Hospital, after the Israeli army detonated “two booby trapped-robots in the vicinity”.  Khabar 24 News and Pal Post similarly reported “booby-trapped robots”  had detonated in the vicinity of Kamal Adwan hospital that evening.

The following day, BBC News Arabic reported on statements made by the Director General of the Ministry of Health in the Gaza Strip, Munir al-Barash, commenting that “The Israeli army placed booby-trapped robots around Kamal Adwan Hospital from the south and west, causing 20 patients and wounded people to be injured, and causing extensive damage inside the hospital”.

It is reported that at least four explosives went off. At 3.26 pm on 24th December, Alaraby TV reported that “a fourth booby-trapped robot was detonated” in the vicinity of Kamal Adwan Hospital.

Several news outlets quoted the director of Kamal Adwan Hospital, Hussam Abu Safiya, who, speaking from on the ground, reported that the hospital was in a “critical” condition.  In an urgent post, Aljazeera Channel quoted Hussam Abu Safiya, who reported that “all barriers and doors inside the hospital”  were destroyed and “20 people” were injured, “including 5 medical staff”.  In another post made by Al Jazeera Egypt,  Hussam Abu Safiya is reported as saying that generators were also hit, making the situation “critical”.

In a video shared on social media by Al Jazeera, Hussam Abu Safiya is depicted inside the hospital. He has short grey hair and is wearing a black zip-up jacket. Behind him, a sign reads “THE INTENSIVE CARE UNIT AT KAMAL ADWAN HOSPITAL”.  Looking toward the camera, he described the incident and appealed to the viewers to help protect the hospital. The comment read, “Kamal Adwan Hospital Director Hussam Abu Safiya says that the [Israeli] forces continue their attacks on the hospital, which has led to injuries among its staff and patients.”

In a video shared by Aljazeera Palestine, a group films from a balcony. The camera looks down at a beige electronic vehicle sitting in the middle of the dirt street, surrounded by rubble. Their voices begin to panic behind the camera as the vehicle releases a heavy metal box. The comment reads, “Activists are circulating on social media pictures of the [Israeli] forces planting an explosive barrel in front of the gate of Kamal Adwan Hospital, and placing explosive barrels in the surrounding streets, where their explosions caused damage to the hospital building.”

Quoting the Palestinian News Agency “Wafa”, in the middle of the day on the 24th of December, Radio Masr News reported that “quadcopter drones dropped bombs on Kamal Adwan Hospital north of the Strip.”

In a post made on X in the evening of 23rd December, Palestine Post reported that “Kamal Adwan Hospital was subjected to repeated shelling and shooting, the last of which was last night, resulting in the injury of 20 patients and medical staff.” However, no other sources repeated this claim.

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