Last bone surgeon in northern Gaza killed, Palestinians say

A doctor believed to be the last remaining orthopaedic surgeon in northern Gaza has been killed in an Israeli strike, according to Palestinian officials.

Dr Sayeed Joudeh died on Thursday while he was on his way to work.

He was a surgeon at Kamal Adwan and al-Awda hospitals in northern Gaza.

The Israeli military said it was unaware of the incident, but it was investigating.

The grandfather had come out of retirement to help during the war.

Last month speaking at a press conference at the Kamal Adwan Hospital, he held up a placard that read “Save US”.

It didn’t work.

“On his way to al-Awda Hospital to evaluate a patient, one of the tanks fired on him directly,” according to Dr Hussam Abu Safiya, director of the Kamal Adwan Hospital.

“Unfortunately, he was killed instantly.”

But some eyewitnesses say Dr Joudeh was shot by a drone.

Israel does not allow foreign journalists unrestricted access to Gaza.

But from Jerusalem, I spoke to Louise Wateridge from the main United Nations aid agency in Gaza.

“It’s devastating for his family. It’s devastating for people in the north who are relying on so few doctors,” said Ms Wateridge.

“Hospitals in the Gaza Strip are not hospitals anymore,” she said.

“There’s no sanitation. There are hardly any doctors. There’s no medical equipment. Patients are dying needlessly.”

Ms Wateridge described the humanitarian situation in Gaza as apocalyptic.

For more than two months much of Northern Gaza has been under Israeli siege and bombardment.

Israel says it is targeting Hamas operatives who have been regrouping there.

On 7 October last year, Hamas launched an attack in southern Israel killing 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages.

In retaliation, Israel launched a massive operation inside the Gaza Strip with the stated aim of eliminating Hamas.

So far, at least 44,875 people have been killed and more than 100,000 injured – mostly civilians, the Hamas-run health ministry says. The UN regards these figures as reliable.

At least 30 of them were killed – and another 50 wounded – in an Israeli strike on a post office turned shelter for displaced people in central Gaza on Thursday night, according to local medics.

Locals say Gazans displaced by the 14-month conflict were sheltering there and that many members of one extended family had been killed.

The Israeli military said it was targeting a senior Islamic Jihad member behind attacks on Israeli civilians and troops.

It accused the armed group of exploiting Gaza’s civilians as human shields for its activities.