IDF orders evacuation of Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza “within an hour”

Israeli soldiers, who are carrying out searches in Gaza’s Al-Shifa hospital for the fourth consecutive day, ordered its evacuation via loudspeaker.within an hour», reported an AFP journalist on site on Saturday. Currently, according to the UN, 2,300 patients, caregivers and displaced people are in this establishment and international concern is growing for their fate. Israel, like Amnesty Internationalassures that Hamas in power in Gaza uses this establishment as a military base.

The AFP journalist present in the hospital heard the message broadcast in Arabic early in the morning. The Israeli army also called the director of the Mohammed Abou Salmiya hospital to demand “the evacuation of patients, the injured, displaced people and caregivers and that everyone goes on foot to the corniche» coastal which borders the hospital, west of Gaza City, within an hour, this chief doctor reported to AFP.

The electricity stopped working there

For days, Israeli soldiers have been entering the Al-Shifa services to question those present inside and search “building by building» according to the Israeli army the medical complex, the largest in the Gaza Strip. The hospital director had already refused this week a previous evacuation order received by telephone, citing in particular the complexity of the operation. The electricity stopped working there several days ago and its department heads report that several dozen patients have died.because vital medical equipment stopped working due to the power outage“.

Most hospitals in Gaza no longer have a drop of fuel to power their generators. On Friday, the Israeli war cabinet authorized the entry of two fuel tankers into the Gaza Strip daily.

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On October 7, the Palestinian Islamist movement launched an unprecedented attack on Israeli soil, killing 1,200 people, mostly civilians, according to the Israeli authorities. The Israeli army is bombing the Gaza Strip and its strikes have caused at least 12,000 deaths, according to the Hamas Ministry of Health. In recent days, Israeli tanks have tightened their grip on Gaza City and more particularly its hospitals, notably Al-Shifa, which it accuses Hamas of using as a military base, something the Islamist movement denies.