Israeli forces have ordered the immediate evacuation of staff and patients from two of northern Gaza’s most critical hospitals under threat of attack, as the United Nations pleaded with Israel to halt its attacks on medical facilities in the besieged territory.
On Friday, Israeli soldiers surrounded the Indonesian Hospital in Beit Lahiya, where many displaced Palestinians have sought refuge.
A separate evacuation order was also issued at al-Awda Hospital in Jabalia, according to Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud, reporting from Deir el-Balah in central Gaza.
Health care in the Gaza Strip has been pushed to the brink of collapse amid repeated attacks by Israeli forces, including last week’s destruction of Kamal Adwan Hospital. Both the Indonesian and al-Awda hospitals have been damaged by repeated Israeli attacks since October 2023.
Mahmoud said many of those being treated or seeking shelter at the two hospitals had come from the destroyed Kamal Adwan Hospital.
“We are talking about people in very critical condition,” he said. “They have to be connected to medical equipment and some of them have suffered serious injuries.”
Footage from the Indonesian Hospital shows children among seriously injured patients.
Mahmoud also reported that Israeli authorities have blocked “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 being used by Palestinian armed groups, but the UN has often questioned the veracity of the claims.
On Friday, Israel’s ambassador to the UN in Geneva, Daniel Meron, posted on social media a letter he sent to the UN and the World Health Organization, saying the raid on the Kamal Adwan hospital a week ago was “triggered by evidence unchallenged” than the armed Palestinians. groups were using the hospital.
He said Israeli forces had taken “extraordinary measures to protect civilian lives by acting on credible intelligence”.
Israel’s targeting of medical facilities in Gaza prompted the UN Security Council to hold an emergency meeting on Friday, during which UN officials pleaded for hospitals to be protected.
At the meeting, UN human rights chief Volker Turk said Israel had failed to substantiate many of its claims that the facilities were being used by fighters in Gaza, describing the allegations as “often vague and broad ” and in some cases “seem to contradict”. from publicly available information”.
Turk called for an independent investigation into all Israeli attacks on medical facilities and healthcare workers in Gaza, as well as the alleged misuse of such facilities.
The WHO’s Rik Peeperkorn urged Israel to immediately cancel its evacuation orders on the Indonesian and al-Awda hospitals.
“They are struggling to stay open. Food, water and fuel are running out fast,” he told the UNSC meeting, adding that hospitals have been without many essential medicines for the past 85 days amid Israel’s renewed offensive in northern Gaza.
Peeperkorn said the WHO was deeply concerned about the fate of Kamal Adwan Hospital director Dr Hussam Abu Safia, who was arrested by Israel last week.
“We have lost contact with him since then and call for his immediate release,” Peeperkorn said.
Christina Markus Lassen, Denmark’s ambassador to the UN, pointed to the WHO’s warning of a “systematic targeting of the healthcare system in Gaza” and called for the “pattern” to “change”.
A recent report by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights revealed that Israeli forces have carried out more than 136 airstrikes on some 27 hospitals and 12 medical facilities over the past eight months.
Meanwhile, Israeli forces continue to shell areas across Gaza, killing at least 73 Palestinians in the territory since Friday morning, medical sources told Al Jazeera.
Al Jazeera’s Mahmoud reported that at least five people were killed early Saturday in an Israeli drone strike on a convoy of security personnel employed to protect the delivery of commercial and humanitarian trucks.
The Palestinian Civil Defense also reported that a man and woman, along with their son, were killed in an Israeli attack on a house on al-Sahaba Street in Gaza City.
Several people were also injured after Israeli warplanes bombed tents housing displaced Palestinians near Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir el-Balah, central Gaza, according to our Al Jazeera Arab colleagues.
Israel’s war in Gaza has killed at least 45,658 Palestinians and wounded 108,583 since October 7, 2023. At least 1,139 people were killed in Israel during attacks led by Hamas that day, and about 250 others were taken prisoner.
