During a session of the United Nations (UN) Security Council, Israel defended its attack on a hospital in northern Gaza on Friday (3), while the UN human rights chief, Volker Turk, classified the justification as “vague and broad”.
The World Health Organization (WHO) calls for the release of the hospital director.
Turk said he had just received a letter from Israel stating that the Kamal Adwan Hospital — which was stormed a week ago — had been militarized by Palestinian Hamas militants and that Israeli forces “took extraordinary measures to protect civilian life, acting with based on reliable information.”
“Yet, Israel has not provided sufficient information to substantiate many of these allegations, which are often vague and broad. In some cases, they appear to be contradicted by publicly available information,” Turk told the UN Security Council.
“I am calling for independent, thorough and transparent investigations into all Israeli attacks on hospitals, healthcare infrastructure and medical personnel, as well as the alleged misuse of such facilities,” he told the 15-member body.
Israel’s deputy ambassador to the UN, Jonathan Miller, said that more than “240 terrorists have been arrested, including 15 who participated in the” in southern Israel in 2023 that triggered the war in the Gaza Strip. The hospital director, Hussam Abu Safiya, was also detained in the operation.
“We suspect him to be a Hamas agent, as hundreds of Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists were hiding inside the Kamal Adwan Hospital under his management. He is currently being investigated by Israeli security forces,” Miller said.
The World Health Organization is deeply concerned about Abu Safiya, said the WHO representative in the occupied Palestinian territory, Richard Peeperkorn.
The United States is in contact with the Israeli government and partners on the ground about Abu Safiya, and is gathering information, Dorothy Shea, deputy U.S. ambassador to the UN, told the Security Council.
Riyad Mansour, Palestinian UN envoy, became emotional at the Security Council when he cited Dr. Mahmoud Abu Nujaila, from Doctors Without Borders (MSF). MSF said Nujaila was killed in an attack on Al Awda Hospital in northern Gaza in November 2023.
Mansour said Nujaila had written on a hospital whiteboard used to plan surgeries: “Whoever stays until the end will tell the story. We did what we could. Remember us.”
