GAZA

Gaza health officials have called for probe after Israeli forces were accused of using bulldozers and unleashing attacker dogs during a raid on the Kamal Adwan Hospital.

Israeli forces raided the hospital last week after besieging and shelling it for several days.

At a press conference on Sunday, Munir al-Bursh, the general director of hospitals in the Gaza Strip, and the hospital's pediatric department head Hussam Abu Safiya said Israeli forces destroyed some sections of the medical facility, denied access to aid, and attacked health workers, the wounded, and displaced civilians seeking refuge.

"The hospital gate and surroundings were bombed, shots were fired at buildings within the hospital compound, the second floor housing the maternity ward was bombed ... hospital director Ahmed al-Kahlout was detained and taken to an undisclosed location.

"Israeli soldiers gathered displaced civilians and health workers, who had sought refuge in the hospital, in a large pit, half-naked, and unleashed attack dogs on them. Israeli construction machinery demolished the hospital's oxygen unit, water tank, central archive, and pharmacy," he said.

"Israeli forces used a bulldozer to dig a large pit in the hospital courtyard and threw approximately 12 bodies of those they had killed into the pit. We do not know if any of the wounded were among those thrown into the pit. We demand a relevant international investigation into these heinous crimes," he added.

Abu Safiya said Israeli troops unleashed an attack dog on a 75-year-old wounded person, who passed away the next day.

He said they heard screams when Israeli soldiers ran bulldozers over tents in the hospital courtyard, and they suspect that, along with the bodies, some people were crushed to death.

Earlier, Palestinian Health Minister Mai al-Kaila had called for an international investigation into the Israeli acts.

More 18,700 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks since Oct. 7.

The Israeli death toll in the Hamas cross-border offensive stands at 1,200.

*Writing by Alperen Aktas in Istanbul