Beit Lahia, Gaza - The director of north Gaza's Kamal Adwan hospital and the territory's civil defense agency said Israel conducted several strikes on Friday that hit the facility, one of the last functioning health centers in the area.

"There was a series of air strikes on the northern and western sides of the hospital, accompanied by intense and direct fire," Hossam Abu Safieh said, adding that four staff were killed and no surgeons were left at the site.

The Israeli army has not yet responded to AFP requests for comment on the strikes.

Mahmud Bassal, Gaza's civil defense spokesperson, told AFP on Friday morning that the Israeli army entered Kamal Adwan Hospital, evacuated patients, and arrested several Palestinians.

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The city of Beit Lahia has been the site of an intense Israeli military operation for the past two months that has intensified in recent days, forcing thousands to flee amid bombing, the civil defense agency said.

The Israeli army has stormed Kamal Adwan on several occasions since the start of the genocide nearly 14 months ago, while the hospital said that its intensive care unit director, Ahmad al-Kahlut, was killed in an air strike late last month.

The army's storming of Kamal Adwan comes just days after the UN's World Health Organization said an emergency medical team had reached it for the first time in 60 days.

With little to no aid reaching Kamal Adwan since the start of the intensified Israeli assault in northern Gaza in early October, the hospital had run out of most supplies, including fuel.

Rights groups have accused Israel of pursuing a plan to displace or starve all those remaining there.

Israeli government spokesperson David Mencer said on Thursday that residents of the north would not be allowed to move back there as long as the military operations are ongoing.

Israel's genocide in Gaza has killed at least 44,580 Palestinians, according to data from the territory's health ministry.

However, many experts believe this to be a gross underestimate, with the true toll believed to be upwards of 186,000 as of July 2024.