A doctor, a lab technician and two maintenance workers are among those killed as the fourth baby in three days freezes to death during Israel's genocide.
Israel's genocide has killed five staff at one of northern Gaza's last functioning hospitals, the facility's director says, as another baby freezes to death in the besieged and bombed Palestinian enclave.
Hussam Abu Safia, director of Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahiya, said Thursday that “among the martyrs was a doctor.”
Al Jazeera's Hind Khoudary, reporting from central Gaza, said a lab technician and two maintenance workers were among those killed in the attack.
“We know that the hospital is one of the only medical facilities still functioning, and is working with minimal human resources and a lack of medical supplies,” he said.
“Israeli forces have been attacking the area around Kamal Adwan Hospital, sending quadcopters into the hospital and shooting at Palestinians.”
The hospital has ceased operations after weeks of almost daily attacks. Israeli forces previously killed the hospital's ICU director, Dr. Ahmed al-Kahlout, and wounded dozens of medical staff in attacks on and around the facility.
Khoudary said Palestinian rescue workers have been unable to reach the bodies of the dead in the hospital. “People cannot bury the Palestinians who are killed every day by Israeli forces in northern Gaza,” he added.
Israel launched a large-scale ground offensive in northern Gaza on October 5, saying it aimed to prevent the Palestinian group Hamas from regrouping.
Since then, sufficient humanitarian aid, including food, medicine and fuel, has not been allowed into the area, leaving the remaining population on the brink of famine.
The World Health Organization described conditions at Kamal Adwan Hospital as “appalling” and said it was operating at a “minimal” level.
Another baby freezes to death
Meanwhile, a fourth baby died due to extreme cold within 72 hours in Gaza, the Wafa news agency reported Thursday.
Medical sources said that the baby died due to a drop in temperature as the humanitarian conditions throughout the enclave are terrible.
“The tents do not protect against the cold, and it is very cold at night and there is no way to keep warm,” said Dr. Ahmed al-Farra, chief pediatric doctor at Nasser Hospital in the Khan Younis area of the south. from Gaza.
In more than a year of Israeli attacks and failure to deliver aid, many families in Gaza have been left without adequate shelter or resources to cope with climate change.
Local health officials told Wafa that a lack of food among mothers was contributing to an increase in health problems among children, further straining medical facilities and emergency services.
Israel's bombing and ground invasion of Gaza have killed more than 45,300 Palestinians, more than half of them women and children. The offensive has also caused widespread destruction and displaced around 90 percent of Gaza's 2.3 million residents, often multiple times.
Hundreds of thousands of people are crammed into tent camps along the coast as the cold, wet winter sets in. Aid groups have struggled to deliver food and supplies and said there are shortages of blankets, warm clothing and firewood.
