Gaza under siege: Kamal Adwan Hospital torched, patients and staff forced out

Los Angeles, Dec. 27 — It was drizzling outside when dozens took to the streets at the Los Angeles Times newspaper headquarters in an emergency action to save Kamal Adwan Hospital. Kamal Adwan was the last functioning hospital in North Gaza. 

Demonstrators denounced the collaboration of Big Media with the U.S.-backed Israeli genocide in Gaza.  A protest organizer, in an impassioned plea, called out to the Times, “You are directly complicit in the media blackout of genocide! The blood is on your hands. We demand safety for Kamal Adwan survivors in North Gaza. We demand safety for journalists. We demand you take a stand, L.A. Times!”

At noon, the protesters were honored with a call from the courageous Mahmoud Bassal, PhD, spokesperson for the North Gaza Civil Defense. Fatin of Unmute Humanity, a media-watch group, translated the painful information from Dr. Bassal, who spoke the truth about the depths of depravity carried out by the U.S./Israeli criminals. 

The action was live-streamed on social media to tens of thousands more from Gaza to L.A. Soon after the call, we learned that the Director of the North Gaza Civil Defense had been abducted to an Israeli torture camp.

In another powerful call, we heard from  Hamza Hammad, a journalist in North Gaza. They reported on the five journalists who were targeted and killed by the IOF when they bombed a van clearly marked PRESS. 

The bourgeois press covered up the atrocity by saying the journalists were Hamas. 

Big Business Media lied. Again.

As of Friday, Dec. 27, 201 journalists have been targeted and killed. Hamza Hammad also updated us on the status of Kamal Adwan Hospital.

All the speakers focused on the grave danger to Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, the director of Kamal Adwan Hospital. In the march around the L.A. Times building, signs bearing his likeness and the words, “I will stay inside my hospital until the last moment,” were carried.

Initiators and endorsers of the emergency action included Riverside 4 Palestine, Unmute Humanity, SAG-AFTRA for Ceasefire, Veterans for Peace, Harriet Tubman Center for Social Justice, Liyang, Palestinian Christians for Justice, and Asian Youth Collective.

Within hours after the emergency action, word spread that whole sections of the hospital were torched. Patients and staff were abducted and forced out. Dr Hussam Abu Safiya was abducted. One of Dr Abu Safiya’s sons was killed by the IOF in October 2024. In a message on Instagram, Dr Abu Safiya’s surviving son confirmed his father was sent to Sde Teiman, the most notorious Israeli “prison” torture camp. There is now an international campaign to Free Dr Hussam Abu Safiya.