The World Health Organization (WHO) has described Gaza’s largest hospital a “death zone,” announcing plans to evacuate the last surviving patients as Israel’s army warned it was extending efforts to crush Hamas.
It announced “the immediate evacuation of the remaining patients, staff, and their families”, warning, however, that nearby facilities were already overstretched and urging an immediate ceasefire given the “extreme suffering of the people of Gaza”.
The evaluation was made following a visit to the hospital by WHO and other UN officials earlier this week in pursuit of Hamas fighters.
Al-Shifa, Gaza’s main hospital, has been a focus in recent days, with Israeli forces charging Hamas to utilize it as a command center, something the group and medical staff deny.
Describing the hospital as a “death zone” on Sunday, the WHO stated that there is a mass grave at the entrance and roughly 300 patients and 25 health personnel remaining inside.
In other news, a Hamas health official stated Saturday that more than 80 people were killed in twin strikes on a northern Gaza refugee camp, including a UN school housing displaced people.
Social media videos verified by AFP showed victims covered in blood and dust on the floor of a building in Jabalia, the Palestinian territory’s largest refugee camp, where mattresses had been pushed under classroom tables.
Philippe Lazzarini, the head of the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), disclosed “horrifying images” from the incident, while Egypt called the attack a “war crime” and a “deliberate insult to the United Nations.”
According to Hamas health officials, a following hit on another building in the Jabalia camp on Saturday killed 32 people from the same family; 19 of them were children.
Without identifying the strikes, the Israeli army claimed that “an incident in the Jabalia region” was being probed.
Israel has pledged to annihilate the Palestinian militant group Hamas in response to the October 7 attacks. According to Israeli authorities, nearly 1,200 individuals were killed; the vast majority of them were civilians, and another 240 were kidnapped.
According to Hamas, which has controlled Gaza since 2007, the army’s continuous air and ground assault has killed 12,300 people, including nearly 5,000 children.
The UN reported that six weeks of conflict had displaced approximately 1.6 million people within the Gaza Strip, and Israel declared Saturday that the force was “expanding its operational activities in additional neighborhoods… of the Gaza Strip.”
Israel has vowed to destroy the Palestinian armed group Hamas in response to the October 7 attacks, which Israeli officials say killed about 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and saw about 240 people taken hostage.
The army’s relentless air and ground campaign has since killed 12,300 people, more than 5,000 of them children, according to the Hamas government, which has ruled Gaza since 2007.
The UN says some 1.6 million people have been displaced inside the Gaza Strip by six weeks of fighting, and Israel said Saturday its military was “expanding its operational activities in additional neighborhoods… of the Gaza Strip”.
Gaza’s largest hospital, Al-Shifa, has been a key focus in recent days, with Israeli forces alleging Hamas uses it as a command center—a claim denied by the group and medical staff.
On Sunday, the WHO described the hospital as a “death zone”, with a mass grave at the entrance and nearly 300 patients left inside with 25 health workers.
It said it was planning “the immediate evacuation of the remaining patients, staff, and their families”, warning, however, that nearby facilities were already overstretched and urging an immediate ceasefire given the “extreme suffering of the people of Gaza”.
On Saturday, hundreds of people fled the hospital on foot on orders from the Israeli army, according to the facility’s director.
Columns of sick and injured people—some of them amputees—were seen leaving with displaced people, doctors, and nurses, as loud explosions were heard around the complex.
At least 15 bodies, some in advanced stages of decomposition, were strewn along the route, lined with heavily damaged shops and overturned vehicles, an AFP journalist there said.
Non-government group Doctors Without Borders said a convoy carrying its staff and family members came under attack Saturday while evacuating from near Al-Shifa, despite coordinating with both sides. One person was killed.
The WHO said 29 patients at the hospital with serious spinal injuries cannot move without medical assistance, and others have infected wounds due to a lack of antibiotics.
There are also 32 babies in “extremely critical condition,” WHO said.
Israel’s siege on Gaza has left food, water, medicine, and fuel in short supply, with just a trickle of aid allowed in from Egypt.
Under US pressure, Israel permitted a first consignment of fuel to enter late Friday, allowing telecommunications to resume after a two-day blackout.
The UN said Israel had agreed to allow in 60,000 liters (16,000 gallons) of fuel a day starting Saturday, but warned it would be only around a third of what is needed.
Israel has told Palestinians to move south for their safety, but deadly strikes continued there too.
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