Last bone surgeon in northern Gaza killed, Palestinians say

A doctor believed to be the last orthopedic surgeon in northern Gaza has been killed by Israeli tank fire, Palestinian officials said.

Dr. Syed Judeh 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.

Grandfather came from retirement to help in the war.

Last month, while speaking at a press conference at the Kamal Advan Hospital, he held up a placard reading “Save the USA”.

It didn’t work.

“On the way to Al-Awda Hospital to examine a patient, one of the tanks directly fired at him,” said Dr. Husam Abu Safiya, director of Kamal Adwan Hospital.

– Unfortunately, he was killed immediately.

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

Israel does 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 almost no doctors. There is no medical equipment. Patients die needlessly.”

Ms Wateridge described the humanitarian situation in Gaza as apocalyptic.

For more than two months, a large part of northern Gaza has been under Israeli siege and bombardment.

Israel says it is targeting Hamas militants who have regrouped there.

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

In response, Israel launched a large-scale operation in 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, according to the Hamas-run health ministry. The UN considers these figures to be accurate.

At least 30 of them were killed – and another 50 wounded – on Thursday night in an Israeli strike on a post office sheltering displaced persons in central Gaza, local medics said.

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

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

He accused the armed group of using Gazan civilians as human shields for its activities.