Israeli order to evacuate Gaza hospital ‘next to impossible’ to obey, say medics By Reuters

Written by Nidal Al-Maghribi

CAIRO (Reuters) – Israel on Sunday ordered the closure and evacuation of one of the last hospitals still partially functioning in a besieged area on the northern edge of the Gaza Strip, forcing doctors to scramble to find a way to transport hundreds of patients and workers to hospitals. safety.

Hossam Abu Safiya, director of Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahia, told Reuters via text message that adhering to the closure order is “close to impossible” because there are not enough ambulances to transport patients.

“We currently have nearly 400 civilians inside the hospital, including babies in the neonatal unit, whose lives depend on oxygen and incubators,” Abu Safiya said. “We cannot safely evacuate these patients without help, equipment and time.”

He added, “We are sending this message in light of violent bombardment and direct targeting of fuel tanks, which, if struck, will lead to a large explosion and large numbers of civilian casualties inside them.”

The Israeli army did not respond to a request for comment on Abu Safiya’s statements. She said that on Friday, she sent fuel and food to the hospital and helped evacuate more than 100 patients and caregivers to other hospitals in Gaza, some in coordination with the Red Cross, for their safety.

The hospital is one of the few still partially functioning in the once-crowded northern end of Gaza, an area that has been under intense Israeli military pressure for nearly three months in one of the most punishing operations in the 14-month war.

Abu Safiya said the army ordered the evacuation of patients and staff to another hospital where conditions were worse. Pictures from inside the hospital showed patients on beds crammed into corridors to keep them away from windows. Reuters could not immediately verify these images.

Israel says its operation around three communities on the northern edge of the Gaza Strip – Beit Lahia, Beit Hanoun and Jabalia – targets Hamas activists. The Palestinians accuse Israel of seeking to permanently evacuate the area in order to create a buffer zone, which Israel denies.

Fighting in close quarters

On Sunday, the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) broadcast a video clip that it said was filmed in the northern Gaza Strip. The video showed fighters stationed in destroyed buildings and piles of rubble, wearing civilian clothes and firing projectiles at Israeli forces.

The Israeli army said on Sunday that forces operating in Beit Hanoun bombed Hamas activists and infrastructure. Hamas and its allied Islamic Jihad movement said it caused casualties among Israeli soldiers.

Separately, Israel allowed the Catholic bishop of Jerusalem, the Latin Patriarch, to enter Gaza on Sunday, according to a statement on the website of the Latin Patriarchate and COGAT, the Israeli defense agency that coordinates with the Palestinians, after Pope Francis said on Saturday that the patriarch had not been allowed entry.

Elsewhere, medics said that Israeli military raids across the Gaza Strip killed at least 24 Palestinians, eight of them, including some children, in a school housing displaced families in Gaza City.

The Israeli army said that the raid targeted Hamas activists working inside the school. Hamas denies that its forces operate among civilians.

The mediators have intensified their efforts in recent weeks to secure a ceasefire in Gaza after months of frozen talks.

Israel began its assault on Gaza after Hamas-led militants attacked Israeli towns on October 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people and taking more than 250 hostage, according to Israeli statistics. It is believed that about half of the 100 hostages still being held are still alive.

Authorities in Gaza say the Israeli campaign has resulted in the deaths of more than 45,200 Palestinians. Most of the 2.3 million population has been displaced, and much of the coastal enclave has been reduced to rubble.

(Reporting and writing by Nidal al-Mughrabi, additional reporting by Ali Sawafta in Ramallah and Emily Rose in Jerusalem, Editing by Peter Graff and Ross Russell)