The director of the Kamal Adwan Hospital warned against an Israeli occupation plan to displace Palestinians in the north of Gaza by halting all operations in the medical facilities in that area.
The Ministry of Health in Gaza announced on Tuesday that Israel ordered the evacuation of three hospitals within 24 hours in the north of the besieged enclave, Anadolu news agency reported.
The Israeli occupation army ordered the evacuation of patients and staff of Kamal Adwan Hospital, the Indonesian Hospital and Al-Awda Hospital.
The Ministry of Health said in a statement that Israel’s occupation army “demands the evacuation of Kamal Adwan Hospital, the Indonesian Hospital, and Al-Awda Hospital from patients and health personnel.”
According to the statement, Israeli occupation forces detained “a paramedic who accompanied a critical care patient during their transfer from Kamal Adwan Hospital despite prior coordination.”
UNRWA: At least 400,000 people are trapped in the northern Gaza Strip. Israeli evacuation orders force people to flee again and again, especially from the Jabaliya camp. Many refuse to evacuate because they know very well that there is no safe place in Gaza. pic.twitter.com/dAZxTulGJ3
— The Palestine Chronicle (@PalestineChron) October 9, 2024
The statement also indicated that the Israeli occupation army was surrounding the Kamal Adwan Hospital and shooting at the administration quarters.
The Israeli occupation army threatened the three hospitals with “destruction, killing, and arrest” if they did not evacuate within the specified period, intimidating them with a similar scene of the siege of Al-Shifa Hospital, according to the statement.
The director of the Kamal Adwan Hospital, Hossam Abu Safia said in an audio recording sent to various reporters that “the Israeli army has given them 24 hours to completely evacuate the hospital of patients and health staff,” Anadolu said.
“The army communicated directly and threatened us, saying we must evacuate the hospital or we would put ourselves in danger,” Abu Safia added, while urging for “serious protection for health institutions and their staff, especially in the northern Gaza Strip.”
The director of the medical facility labeled the new Israeli evacuation order as dangerous warning that it could lead to the “collapse of the health care system in the northern Gaza Strip.”
Moreover, he warned against an Israeli occupation plan to displace Palestinians in the north of Gaza by halting all operations in the medical facilities in that area.
On top of the Israeli evacuation order, the Ministry of Health revealed that due to acute fuel shortage, the medical facility might halt its operations within the coming hours.
PALESTINIAN MEDIA: the Israeli army is launching continuous artillery shelling on Beit Hanoun, Beit Lahia, Jabalia camp and Jabalia al-Balad in the northern Gaza Strip. pic.twitter.com/bsCybT82Ui
— The Palestine Chronicle (@PalestineChron) October 9, 2024
Health System under Attack
This is neither the first time hospitals in Gaza warn of the imminent shutdown of their operations due to fuel shortage nor is it the first time Israel has issued evacuation orders to medical facilities.
Since the start of the genocide on Gaza on October 7, the Israeli occupation army has deliberately targeted the health system in the Strip, through systematic raids on hospitals and clinics and the killing and detention of medical staff in addition to attacking aid convoys.
This has been met with wide condemnation by various United Nations agencies and international organizations.
In a new report cited by the Quds News Network (QNN) which was published on September 17, the Health Ministry said that Israeli occupation forces have killed 1,151 Palestinian health workers since October 7.
A total of 986 were named in the new report, while personal data for the remaining 165 was still being verified.
The ministry said the delay in the verification process was due to Israeli authorities withholding the victims’ bodies or their remains being buried under rubble.
Dr. Husam Abu Safiya, the director of Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza, says the Israeli army has threatened them with the same fate as Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City. pic.twitter.com/4dOP3Wuqeb
— The Palestine Chronicle (@PalestineChron) October 9, 2024
At least 165 of those killed were doctors, 260 nurses, 300 management and support personnel, 184 health associate professionals, 76 pharmacists, and 12 other health workers.
“The Palestinian sector has been subjected to a systematic attack by the occupation forces that has affected all its components,” the ministry noted.
Health facilities were the target of direct and repeated Israeli raids and air strikes, it added, which has crippled the health system and left hundreds of thousands of war victims facing “imminent death”.
More than 300 health workers have also been arrested by Israeli forces.
Gaza Genocide Continues
Flouting a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire, Israel has faced international condemnation amid its continued brutal offensive on Gaza.
Currently on trial before the International Court of Justice for genocide against Palestinians, Israel has been waging a devastating war on Gaza since October 7.
According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, 41,965 Palestinians have been killed, and 97,590 wounded in Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza starting on October 7, 2023.
Moreover, at least 11,000 people are unaccounted for, presumed dead under the rubble of their homes throughout the Strip.
Israel says that 1,200 soldiers and civilians were killed during the Al-Aqsa Flood Operation on October 7. Israeli media published reports suggesting that many Israelis were killed on that day by ‘friendly fire’.
Palestinian and international organizations say that the majority of those killed and wounded are women and children.
The Israeli war has resulted in an acute famine, mostly in northern Gaza, resulting in the death of many Palestinians, mostly children.
The Israeli aggression has also resulted in the forceful displacement of nearly two million people from all over the Gaza Strip, with the vast majority of the displaced forced into the densely crowded southern city of Rafah near the border with Egypt – in what has become Palestine’s largest mass exodus since the 1948 Nakba.
Later in the war, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians began moving from the south to central Gaza in a constant search for safety.
(PC, Anadolu)
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