Renowned doctor at Al-Shifa Hospital killed in Gaza City, health ministry official says

An internal medicine physician who told the world about the dire hardships in frequent dispatches from Gaza'sAl-Shifa Hospital has been killed, an official with the territory's Health Ministry said Tuesday.

Reports that Dr. HammamAllohdied in an Israeli airstrike last weekend near the hospital have been circulating for the past few days, but reports of a missile strike as the reason for his death havenot been confirmed. Reports about others killedvary.

Alloh, a kidney specialist who lived in Gaza City,was killed with his stepfather, said Dr. Medhat Abass, spokesperson for Gaza's Health Ministry, on Tuesday.

The doctor's sister, Shaymma Alloh, told The Associated Press that the house where 26 members of her family were sheltering was hit by a missile strikelate Saturday. She said thedead included her brother, father and two in-laws.

According to Shaymma, her entire extended family was staying with her brother at their in-laws' house, a 10-minute walk from the hospital.

WATCH | Dire situation at Gaza's Al-Shifa Hospital:

Gaza's Al-Shifa hospital runs out of fuel, power

10 months ago

Duration 3:29

The situation at Gaza's largest hospital, Al-Shifa, is dire after the hospital ran out of fuel and power, making it difficult to tend to the 500 patients inside, the head of the department of plastic surgery at the facility told CBC News.

Doctor described dire hospital situation to outside world

News organizationDemocracy Now!, which has publishedseveral interviews with the doctor,reported on Monday that he died onSaturdaywhen an artillery shell struck his wife's home, killing him, his father, brother-in-law and father-in-law.

"Yes, he died," the hospital's director, Mohammad Abu Salmiya, told CBC News on Tuesday.

Salmiyasaid he did not have further detailsbut thathe had heard there was bombing near the hospital and near Alloh's home.

"We lost an important medical staff [member]," Salmiya said.

Hedescribed the doctor as awitness for the world to the dire conditions at the hospital, which has run out of fuel and power,making it difficult to tend to the 500 patients inside.

LISTEN: Dr.Hammam Allohtalks about the military siege inGaza City:

As It Happens7:38Israels promise of a complete siege is a death sentence, says doctor in Gaza City

Hammam Alloh of Gaza City says that if Israel follows through on its promise of a complete siege, it will be a death sentence for the people living along the Gaza Strip. The internal medicine doctor says they are already short medical supplies and personnel. He spoke with As It Happens host Nil Kksal about the conflict.

In one of his last interviews, the 36-year doctor spoke to CBC last Friday, telling the networkhe was planning to go into work the next day. The nephrologist said his patients needed daily care if they had renal failure and needed dialysis.

At the same time, he was trying to care for his wife andtheir three young children at home. Still, he felt compelled to keep working at Al-Shifa, he said.

"I can't even think of not going," he said. "I don't have an option ... because if I don't go, this means I'm giving up on life. I took an oath as a physician, and I will not betray that oath."

WATCH | Dr. Alloh speaks in October about whatthe supply blockade means for Al-Shifa:

Doctor in Gaza says supply blockade means 'it's a mess everywhere'

11 months ago

Duration 14:26

Dr. Hammam Alloh, an internal medicine physician in Gaza City, says Israel's blockade means doctors must constantly manage shortages of drugs, blood products, fresh water and power.

Hospital staff deny knowledge of Hamas tunnels

Gaza's largest hospital has become a focal point in the five-week-old war between Israeli forces and Hamas, which began after a surprise and deadly multi-front attack by Hamas militants on several communities insouthern Israel.

Spokespeople for the Israel Defence Forces haverepeatedly said Hamasruns its headquarters from tunnels beneath Al-Shifa, while hospital staff say they've seen no evidence of that.

Thousands fled Al-Shifaover the weekend as Israeli troops encircled it, and doctors said gunfire and explosions raged all around it on Monday. Israeli troops appeared to be only a few blocks away from the facility.

WATCH |A leading surgeon at Al-Shifa talks about the dire situation for premature babies:

Doctor at Gaza's Al-Shifa Hospital fears for patients, including premature babies

10 months ago

Duration 11:50

Dr. Marwan Abusada, a leading surgeon at Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, describes a dire situation where patients, including premature babies, face serious and growing risks.

The doctor was asked during a CBC interviewon Oct. 31 if he had a message for the international community.

"We have the right just like you to live in peace and freedom," Alloh said. "Help us get this.Otherwise, you'll need to revise the definition of humanity and your humanity."