CAIRO

Egypt rejected Israel’s “disgraceful actions” in northern Gaza on Sunday and forced displacement of Palestinians from the enclave.

On Friday, Israeli forces raided Kamal Adwan Hospital in the northern town of Beit Lahia, burning large sections and forcing patients and displaced civilians to flee.

In a statement, the Egyptian Foreign Ministry denounced "the systematic and brutal targeting of Gaza's health infrastructure by Israeli occupation forces.”

The hospital “is the last major functioning healthcare facility in northern Gaza," the ministry said, calling the Israeli raid “a blatant aggression and a flagrant violation of all international norms and conventions."

“These disgraceful actions, which aim at evacuating northern Gaza and rendering it uninhabitable, are part of attempts to forcibly displace Palestinians and compel them to leave their lands,” the ministry warned.

It called on the international community and the UN Security Council to halt this Israeli approach, “which poses a grave threat to regional and international peace and security."

Egypt emphasized the urgent need “to end this senseless war on Gaza as soon as possible, cease these brutal practices, and remove obstacles to the flow of humanitarian aid to adequately and sustainably assist hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in the Strip."

Israel has killed more than 45,500 victims in Gaza since a Hamas attack on Oct. 7, 2023, and reduced the enclave to rubble.

Last month, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.

*Writing by Rania Abu Shamala