Live: Israeli forces withdraw from Netzarim Corridor

Al Jazeera is reporting, citing medical sources, that several medical staff members were burned to death in the fires set by Israel's military in the Kamal Adwan Hospital on Friday.

Israeli forces on Friday arrested Ahmed al-Kahlout, who serves as the director of Gaza's civil defence in the northern part of the enclave, according to Al Jazeera.

Hamas released a statement on Friday denying that there was a military presence from any Palestinian armed faction inside Kamal Adwan Hospital.

"We categorically deny the presence of any military appearance or resistance fighters in the hospital, whether from the Qassam Brigades or any other faction, as the hospital was open to everyone and international and UN institutions that know the hospital well," Hamas said in its statement.

"The enemy's lies about the hospital are to justify the heinous crime committed by the occupation army today by evacuating and burning all sections of the hospital, in implementation of the plan of genocide and forced displacement."

Israel claimed there were Palestinian fighters inside the hospital, saying that the hospital was a "Hamas terrorist stronghold" and using this as justification for launching a raid and forcing patients and medical staff out of the building.

Israel forced semi-naked Palestinian medics and patients to leave on foot and set fire to sections of the hospital.

The storming of the hospital comes days after 50 Palestinians were killed in an Israeli air strike on a building on the hospital's grounds. At least five medical staff were killed in Thursday's attack, along with their wives, parents and children.

The Houthi movement in Yemen, officially known as Ansar Allah, said that new air strikes have struck Yemen's capital Sanaa for a second day, blaming the US and UK for the attack.

New air strikes have hit Yemen’s capital Sanaa for the second day in a row, the Houthis said, adding that “US-British aggression” was to be blamed for the attack.

The bombings come a day after Israel launched air attacks on the main airport in Sanaa and on the port city of Hodeidah.

A total of six people were killed in those attacks, while dozens of others were wounded.

Reuters reported on Friday that a US Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (Thaad) anti-missile system was used in Israel to try to intercept a projectile for the first time since Washington placed the system in Israel in October.

The Thaad missile defence system was used to try and intercept a projectile from Yemen sometime in the past day, according to Reuters. There wasn't an immediate comment from the Pentagon.

The Houthi movement in Yemen, officially known as Ansar Allah, has stepped up its direct attacks on Israel, launching several ballistic missiles and drones at sites in the country.

Some have managed to penetrate Israel's coveted Iron Dome missile defence system, while others have been intercepted by the Israeli military.

Palestinian journalist Mohammed al-Sharif was released by Israeli forces after he was detained at the Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza earlier on Friday, several Palestinian news outlets are reporting.

Satellite imagery obtained by Palestinian journalist Younis Tirawi shows Israel's military using the Indonesian Hospital in northern Gaza as a base of operations.

The satellite imagery shows more than a dozen Israeli military vehicles parked on the premises of the hospital grounds.

Tirawi said that the hospital is being used as a "headquarters" by the Israeli military, "where soldiers operate and hide behind".

Israel forcibly evacuated the Indonesian Hospital on Monday, and then on Tuesday stormed the hospital and forced anyone inside to leave the premises.

On multiple occasions, Israel has claimed Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups use hospitals in Gaza as bases of operations. If this claim were true, then it would take away the protected status of those hospitals under international law.

However, the top prosecutor at the International Criminal Court, Andrew Cayley, who is leading the Palestine investigation has said that Israel's claims regarding Gaza's hospitals have been "grossly exaggerated".

Footage obtained today shows the Israeli military using the Indonesian Hospital as a military HQ.

The hospital, which used to be a key medical facility in northern Gaza, now serves as an IDF HQ, where soldiers operate and hide behind, after expelling doctors inside & killing… pic.twitter.com/Ko24WA0Ahi

— Younis Tirawi | يونس (@ytirawi) December 27, 2024

The government media office in Gaza released a statement regarding the Israeli military raid on the Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza.

The office said that Israeli forces detained more than 350 people inside the hospital, including more than 180 medical staff and 75 wounded individuals. A journalist, Mohammed al-Sharif, was also detained in the raid.

The media office called the raid "a full-fledged war crime".

"We condemn in the strongest terms and denounce this criminal attack carried out by the occupation army, which targets the health system’s infrastructure and endangers the lives of thousands of innocent people," the office said in its statement.

Israel has on several occasions laid siege to hospitals throughout its war on Gaza over the past year. 

Attacking medical facilities is a war crime under international law.

Palestinian fighters within the occupied West Bank refugee camp Tulkarm detonated an explosive device underneath an Israeli bulldozer, causing the machine to catch fire.

Israeli forces launched a military raid on the Tulkarm camp on Tuesday, and so far have killed nearly 10 people in the camp and nearby areas.

Palestinian journalist Mohammed al-Sharif was detained during Israel's raid on the Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza, according to Al Jazeera.

Civil defence crews rescued a Palestinian child from beneath the rubble after an Israeli air strike targeted their home in Gaza. pic.twitter.com/rtGPA3ie6m

— Middle East Eye (@MiddleEastEye) December 27, 2024

Six Palestinians have been killed in three separate Israeli air strikes in the vicinity of Gaza City, according to Wafa news agency.

At least three were killed and others wounded when Israeli forces targeted al-Shati refugee camp, northwest of Gaza City.

In another attack, a Palestinian man was killed, and others wounded, by an Israeli air strike on the Sabra neighborhood in Gaza City.

A further two Palestinians were killed, and others wounded, in an Israeli attack on al-Zaytoun neighbourhood, southeast of Gaza City.

Elsewhere, Israeli military vehicles fired at civilians in Abasan, located east of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip. There were no reports of casualties.

According to Wafa, citing medical sources, at least 16 people were killed across Gaza on Friday morning.

The Palestinian health ministry said that contact with medics inside the Kamal Adwan hospital has been lost completely since Israeli soldiers stormed the facility on Friday.

Israeli troops raided the hospital in Beit Lahia, set parts of it ablaze and ordered dozens of staff and patients to leave. 

"The occupation forces are inside the hospital now and they are burning it," health ministry director Munir Al-Bursh said in a statement.

Videos and eyewitness testimony shared with Middle East Eye on Friday showed Israeli forces forcing semi-naked Palestinian medics and patients to leave on foot to an unknown destination.

Israeli soldiers stormed Gaza's last functioning hospital on Friday and forced semi-naked Palestinian medics and patients to leave on foot to an unknown destination, according to videos and eyewitness testimony shared with Middle East Eye.

According to one video sent to MEE, several Israeli tanks could be seen stationed outside the bombed-out Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahia, whilst dozens of men stripped to their underwear were being directed to an area off screen.

Islam Ahmad, a local journalist and eyewitness to the attack, said communication had been cut off with hospital staff hours before Israeli forces stormed the facility.

He told MEE that Israeli forces had been attacking the hospital since sunrise, with operating rooms, laboratories and other emergency departments targeted by strikes and set ablaze.

He added that there were growing fears for the safety of medics such as Hossam Abu Safiya, the head of the hospital, due to Israel's deliberate targeting of healthcare workers.

Read more: Israeli soldiers storm Gaza's Kamal Adwan hospital, force out semi-naked medics and patients

A Palestinian former informant for Israel’s interior security agency Shin Bet on Friday stabbed an 83-year-old woman to death in Herzliya in northern Tel Aviv District.

According to Shin Bet, the victim is Ludmila Lipovsky, who was stabbed by the 28-year-old Ibrahim Shalhoub, from the occupied West Bank.

The attack took place when Lipovsky had just left her assisted living complex, the Time of Israel reported.

“[Lipovsky] went out and waited for her daughter to take her to the doctor and the terrorist started stabbing her, five or six times. She has been a resident of the nursing home here for many years. I heard screams, I went out and saw her lying on the floor,” an unnamed staffer at the facility told Walla news, as translated by the Times of Israel.

Israeli police arrested the assailant after he was shot by security guards. His condition is not known yet.