Israel orders evacuation of Gaza’s critical Indonesian, al-Awda hospitals

Israeli forces have ordered the immediate evacuation of staff and patients from two of northern Gaza’s most critical hospitals under the 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 shelter.

A separate evacuation order was also issued to the al-Awda Hospital in Jabalia, according to Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud, who was reporting from Deir el-Balah in central Gaza.

Healthcare in the Gaza Strip has been pushed to the brink of collapse amid repeated attacks by Israeli forces, including last week’s destruction of the Kamal Adwan Hospital. Both the Indonesian and al-Awda Hospitals have been damaged due to repeated Israeli attacks since October 2023.

Mahmoud said that 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 need to be attached to medical equipment, and some of them have sustained severe injuries.”

Images from the Indonesian Hospital show children among the severely injured patients.

Mahmoud also reported that Israeli authorities have blocked “any sort of coordination” between hospital staff and independent humanitarian organisations 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 frequently questioned the veracity of the claims.

On Friday, Israel’s UN ambassador in Geneva, Daniel Meron, posted on social media a letter he sent to the UN and the World Health Organization, saying that the raid on Kamal Adwan Hospital a week ago was “triggered by irrefutable evidence” that Palestinian armed groups were using the hospital.

He said Israeli forces had taken “extraordinary measures to protect civilian life while 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 the protection of the hospitals.

At the meeting, UN human rights chief Volker Turk said Israel has 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 “appear to be contradicted by 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.

Rik Peeperkorn of the WHO urged Israel to immediately rescind its evacuation orders on the Indonesian and al-Awda Hospitals.

“They are struggling to stay open. Food, water and fuel are depleting fast,” he said at the UNSC meeting, adding that the hospitals have been without many essential medicines over the last 85 days amid Israel’s renewed assault on northern Gaza.

Peeperkorn said the WHO was deeply concerned about the fate of the director of the Kamal Adwan Hospital, Dr Hussam Abu Safia, who was arrested by Israel last week.

“We have lost contact with him since and call for his immediate release,” Peeperkorn said.

Christina Markus Lassen, Denmark’s ambassador to the UN, noted the WHO’s warning of a “systematic targeting of the healthcare system in Gaza” and urged that the “pattern” be “reversed”.

A recent report from the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights found that Israeli forces have conducted more than 136 air raids on some 27 hospitals and 12 medical facilities over the past eight months.

Meanwhile, Israeli forces continue to bombard 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 on Saturday in an Israeli drone attack on a convoy of security personnel hired to protect the delivery of commercial and humanitarian trucks.

The Palestinian Civil Defence also reported that a husband and wife, along with their son, were killed in an Israeli attack on a home on al-Sahaba Street, Gaza City.

Several people were also injured after Israeli fighter jets bombed tents housing displaced Palestinians in the vicinity of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir el-Balah, central Gaza, according to our Al Jazeera Arabic colleagues.

Israel’s war on 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 the Hamas-led attacks that day and about 250 others were taken captive.

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