Gaza health officials said on Saturday that Israeli forces detained the director of a hospital in the north, which the World Health Organization (WHO) reported was put out of service following an Israeli raid.

“The occupation forces have taken dozens of medical staff from Kamal Adwan Hospital to a detention center for interrogation, including the director, Hossam Abu Safiyeh,” the health ministry in Hamas-administered Gaza said in a statement.

The Gaza Civil Defense Agency also confirmed Abu Safiyeh’s detention and reported that its director for the north, Ahmed Hassan al-Kahlout, was among those held.

“The occupation has completely destroyed the medical, humanitarian, and civil defense systems in the north, rendering them useless,” Mahmud Bassal, a spokesperson for the Civil Defense Agency, told AFP.

On Friday, the Israeli military said it had conducted an operation in the area of Kamal Adwan Hospital, alleging the facility was a “key stronghold for terrorist organizations.”

The Palestinian militant group Hamas denied that its fighters were present in the hospital, accusing Israeli forces of storming the facility on Friday.

The WHO stated that the Israeli military operation had rendered the hospital nonfunctional.

“This morning’s raid on Kamal Adwan Hospital has put this last major health facility in north Gaza out of service. Initial reports indicate that some key departments were severely burned and destroyed during the raid,” the WHO said in a statement on X.