Israeli forces ordered the immediate evacuation of staff and patients from two of the most important hospitals in the northern Gaza Strip under threat of attack, while the United Nations appealed to Israel to stop its attacks on medical facilities in the besieged Strip.

On Friday, Israeli occupation forces surrounded the area Indonesian Hospital In Beit Lahia, where many displaced Palestinians have sought shelter.

A separate evacuation order was also issued for Al Awda Hospital in Jabalia, according to Al Jazeera correspondent Hani Mahmoud, who was reporting from Deir al-Balah in central Gaza.

Healthcare in the Gaza Strip has reached the brink of collapse amid repeated attacks by Israeli forces, including the destruction of a hospital last week. Kamal Adwan Hospital. The Indonesian Hospital and Al Awda Hospital were damaged by repeated Israeli attacks since October 2023.

Mahmoud said that many of those being treated or seeking shelter in the two hospitals came from the destroyed Kamal Adwan Hospital.

He added: “We are talking about people in a very critical condition.” “They had to be strapped into medical equipment, and some of them were seriously injured.”

Pictures from the Indonesian hospital show children among seriously injured patients.

Mahmoud also reported that Israeli authorities prevented “any kind of coordination” between hospital staff and independent humanitarian organizations such as the Red Crescent.

Israel has defended its raids on medical facilities by saying they are used by Palestinian armed groups, but the United Nations has repeatedly questioned the validity of these allegations.

On Friday, Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, Daniel Meron, posted on social media a letter he sent to the United Nations and the World Health Organization, in which he said that the raid on Kamal Adwan Hospital a week ago “was caused by overwhelming evidence” that Palestinian militants were The groups use the hospital.

He added that the Israeli forces took “extraordinary measures to protect the lives of civilians while they were acting based on reliable intelligence information.”

Israel’s targeting of medical facilities in Gaza prompted the UN Security Council to hold an emergency meeting on Friday, during which UN officials called for the protection of hospitals.

At the meeting, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk She said Israel had failed to prove many of its claims that the facilities were being used by militants in Gaza, calling the allegations “vague and often broad” and in some cases “appearing to contradict publicly available information.”

Turk called for an independent investigation into all Israeli attacks on medical facilities and health care workers in Gaza, as well as the alleged misuse of these facilities.

Rick Pepperkorn, of the World Health Organization, urged Israel to cancel the immediate evacuation orders for the Indonesian Hospital and Al Awda Hospital.

“They are struggling to stay open. Food, water and fuel are rapidly depleting,” he told the UN Security Council meeting, adding that hospitals have remained without many essential medicines for the past 85 days amid the renewed Israeli offensive on northern Gaza.

Peppercorn said that the World Health Organization is deeply concerned about the fate of the director of Kamal Adwan Hospital, Dr. Hossam Abu Safiya, who was arrested by Israel last week.

“We have lost contact with him since then and demand his immediate release,” Peppercorn said.

Christina Markus Lassen, Denmark’s ambassador to the United Nations, noted the World Health Organization’s warning about the “systematic targeting of Gaza’s healthcare system” and urged “this pattern to be reversed.”

A recent report issued by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights concluded that Israeli forces launched more than 136 air strikes on approximately 27 hospitals and 12 medical facilities during the past eight months.

Meanwhile, Israeli forces continue to bomb areas across Gaza, killing at least 73 Palestinians in the Strip since Friday morning, medical sources told Al Jazeera.

At least five people were killed early Saturday in an Israeli drone attack on a convoy of security personnel assigned to protect commercial and humanitarian truck deliveries, Al Jazeera’s Mahmoud reported.

The Palestinian Civil Defense also reported that a husband, wife, and their son were martyred in an Israeli attack on a house on Al-Sahaba Street in Gaza City.

Several people were also injured after Israeli fighter jets bombed tents housing displaced Palestinians in the vicinity of the camp. Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital In Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip, according to our colleagues on Al Jazeera Arabic.

Israel The war on Gaza At least 45,658 Palestinians have been killed and 108,583 others injured since October 7, 2023. At least 1,139 people were killed in Israel during Hamas-led attacks that day and about 250 others were captured.