A doctor, believed to be the last remaining orthopedic surgeon in northern Gaza, has been killed in an Israeli attack, according to Palestinian officials.
Dr. Sayeed Joudeh died on Thursday while 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 not aware of the incident but was investigating.
The grandfather had come out of retirement to help during the war.
Last month, he held up a sign reading “Save the US” during a press conference at Kamal Adwan Hospital.
It didn’t work.
“On the way to al-Awda Hospital to examine a patient, one of the tanks fired directly at him,” said Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, director of Kamal Adwan Hospital.
“Unfortunately, he died instantly.”
But some eyewitnesses say Dr. Joudeh was shot by a drone.
Israel does not give foreign journalists unrestricted access to Gaza.
But from Jerusalem I spoke to Louise Wateridge of the main United Nations aid agency in Gaza.
“It’s devastating for his family. It is devastating for people in the north who rely on so few doctors,” Ms Wateridge said.
“Hospitals in the Gaza Strip are no longer hospitals,” she said.
“There are no sanitary facilities. There are hardly any doctors. There is no medical equipment. Patients die unnecessarily.”
Ms Wateridge described the humanitarian situation in Gaza as apocalyptic.
For more than two months, much of northern Gaza has been under siege and bombardment by Israel.
Israel says it is targeting Hamas operatives who have regrouped there.
Much of Gaza is in ruins after airstrikes that Israel says are targeting Hamas and Islamic Jihad [Reuters]
On October 7 last year, Hamas launched an attack in southern Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages.
In retaliation, Israel launched a large-scale operation in the Gaza Strip with the aim of eliminating Hamas.
So far, at least 44,875 people have been killed and more than 100,000 injured – mostly civilians, the Hamas-led Health Ministry says. The UN considers these figures to be reliable.
At least 30 of them were killed – and another 50 wounded – on Thursday evening in an Israeli attack on a post office set up as a shelter for displaced people in central Gaza, local medics said.
Locals say Gazans displaced by the 14-month conflict took refuge there and many members of extended family had been killed.
The Israeli military said it was targeting a senior member of Islamic Jihad behind the attacks on Israeli civilians and troops.
It accused the armed group of exploiting Gaza’s civilians as human shields for its activities.
