A doctor believed to be the last remaining orthopedic surgeon in northern Gaza has been killed in an Israeli strike, 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 they were not aware of what had happened, but that they were 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 the USA”.
It didn't work.
“On his way to al-Awda Hospital to evaluate a patient, one of the tanks fired directly at him,” according to Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, director of Kamal Adwan Hospital.
“Unfortunately, he was killed instantly.”
But some witnesses say that Dr. Joudeh was shot by a drone.
Israel will not allow foreign journalists unrestricted access to Gaza.
But from Jerusalem, I spoke to Louise Wateridge of the main UN aid agency in Gaza.
“It's devastating for his family. It's 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 is no sanitation. There are hardly any doctors. There is 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.
Much of Gaza is in ruins after air strikes 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 massive operation inside the Gaza Strip with the stated goal of eliminating Hamas.
So far, at least 44,875 people have been killed and more than 100,000 wounded – mostly civilians, the Hamas health ministry says. The UN considers these figures to be 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 doctors.
Locals say Gazans displaced by the 14-month conflict were taking refuge there and many members of one extended family were killed.
The Israeli military said it was targeting a senior Islamic Jihad member behind attacks on Israeli civilians and soldiers.
She accused the armed group of exploiting Gaza civilians as human shields for its activities.
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