Hundreds of people left the Al Shifa hospital in Gaza on Saturday, under siege for several days by the Israeli army, as confirmed by an AFP journalist who was there, and the Hamas Ministry of Health stated that ” 120 injured” and premature babies could not be evacuated.
Doctors remained in Al Shifa to treat these patients, officials at the establishment told AFP, without providing the exact number of babies still in the facility. “We are in contact with the Red Cross regarding this,” the ministry said, without further details.
The Israeli army assured that it had not given any evacuation order, but had “responded to a request” from the hospital director.
“At no time did the Army order the evacuation of patients or medical equipment and, in fact, proposed that any request for medical evacuation be facilitated by the Army,” the military statement said.
Israeli troops, however, confirm having issued an “immediate” evacuation order on the Gazan neighborhoods of Jabalia, Al Daraj al Tufah and Al Shuyaiya to “preserve their safety.” “We urge them to urgently evacuate, because it is dangerous for them to remain there,” the Army said in a brief statement in Arabic.
These columns of displaced people, doctors, sick and wounded, some amputees, some very weak, walked towards the Salaheddine road that leads to the south of the Gaza Strip.
It is in this area where the Israeli army wants to relocate the 1.1 million inhabitants of the north of the small Palestinian territory, where ground combat against Hamas is concentrated until now. For this reason, a corridor leading to the Salaheddine road was opened on Saturday.
Along the way, the AFP journalist saw at least fifteen bodies, some in an advanced state of decomposition. Everywhere the roads were broken, businesses destroyed, cars overturned or crushed.
Israeli tanks, personnel carriers and armored vehicles were seen around the hospital, the largest in the Gaza Strip, while Israeli drones flew over the area.
No ambulance was used in this evacuation, the journalist further reported. For days, hospitals in the Gaza Strip have said they no longer have enough fuel. After attacks and shootings against ambulances, especially at the gates of Al Shifa, their drivers say they can no longer operate. In addition, explosions were heard in and around the hospital complex, the journalist said.
In recent days, during their attack on the hospital, Israeli soldiers destroyed several departments with explosives, including the ground floor of the surgery department.
Before this evacuation, according to the UN, 2,300 patients, caregivers and displaced people were in this facility. Israel claims that Hamas, in power in Gaza, uses this establishment as a military base, which the Islamist movement denies. At the moment, no conclusive evidence has been provided for the still Israeli hypothesis.
