The Israeli forces on Saturday ordered an evacuation of the Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza in the “next hour”, reported AFP. According to reports, the troops called the hospital’s director Mohammed Abu Salmiya to instruct him to ensure “the evacuation of patients, wounded, the displaced and medical staff, and that they should move on foot towards the seafront”.
This comes two days after the Israeli troops combed the hospital facility for Hamas hideouts and claimed to have uncovered a Hamas tunnel shaft and a vehicle with weapons inside the complex. The Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) released a video claiming that it showed a tunnel entrance in an outdoor area of Gaza’s biggest hospital. However, the video could not be verified.
The Al-Shifa hospital, struggling to keep operating, has become a focus of the Israel-Hamas war which is now entering its seventh week. The Hamas health ministry in Gaza said that dozens of people have died at the hospital due to power cuts caused by fuel shortages.
While Israel has previously made several calls for the hospital to be evacuated, medical professionals said that the patients cannot be moved.
According to the United Nations, around 2,300 patients, staff, and displaced people were sheltering at the hospital before the Israeli troops entered on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, a doctor from the Al Shifa hospital on Friday said that they are running out of food and water, adding that the supplies given by the Israeli military were “very minimal”, reported Reuters.
“What happened is that the people, we run out of food, we ran out of drinking water…And then, yesterday, they arranged some, just some food and water, which is very, very minimal, which doesn’t cover, maybe 40 percent of the number of people around here,” he said.
(With inputs from agencies)
