2023-11-21 03:00:44
About 200 patients were evacuated Monday from the Indonesian hospital, north of Gaza City, where “12 patients and their relatives” were killed and “dozens injured” in an Israeli strike, the spokesperson said Monday of the Hamas Ministry of Health, Ashraf al-Qidreh.
“The Israeli army is besieging the Indonesian hospital and we fear that the same thing will happen there as in al-Shifa”, the largest hospital in the Gaza Strip, recently evacuated and now in the hands of the Israeli army, added Dr. Qidreh.
In the evening, around 200 patients were evacuated from this establishment located on the edge of the Jabaliya refugee camp and whose theoretical capacity is 140 beds, he explained. This evacuation was carried out in coordination with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), he said, a condition set by Gazan doctors to obtain a guarantee that no ambulances will be bombed after Israel targeted an ambulance in the northern Gaza Strip. The Israeli army assured that the ambulance was “used” by Hamas.
“There are still 400 patients in the hospital and we are working with the ICRC to evacuate them to the Nasser hospital in Khan Younes”, in the south of the Gaza Strip, to “then distribute them”, added Ashraf al- Qidreh. In addition, “around 2,000 displaced people” are in and around the Indonesian hospital, among the 1.6 million displaced people in the small territory. The World Health Organization (WHO) denounced this “attack” this Monday morning on the hospital, confirming the toll of 12 dead and dozens injured.
“We saw death in the face”
At the Indonesian hospital, “we looked death in the face, the artillery fire and machine gun fire did not stop,” said Mohammed Aqel, 32, wounded in the leg, upon his arrival at the Indonesian hospital. Nasser hospital in Khan Younes. “On the Salaheddine road,” which crosses the Gaza Strip from north to south, “we saw a lot of corpses,” he added.
The Israeli army claims to be “expanding its operations in new areas of the Gaza Strip”, particularly in the Jabaliya sector.
For Mounir al-Bourch, director general of the Ministry of Health currently in the Indonesian hospital, “targeting this establishment means stopping all medical services in the north of the Gaza Strip.” “The Israeli army has destroyed certain departments, notably the infirmary and surgery services, and the others are under threat of sniper fire,” he assured during the day.
In the Indonesian hospital, “more than 100 people need emergency surgery but we only have a few caregivers,” he says. And very little electricity, as fuel has been trickling in since Israel imposed a “complete siege” on the Gaza Strip on October 9. “We now use soybean oil instead of fuel to run the generators,” he explains.
Hamas repeats that the Israeli army is waging “a war against hospitals” while Israel accuses the Islamist movement of using these establishments for military purposes.
13,300 dead in Gaza, according to Hamas
On November 5, the Israeli army claimed that the Indonesian hospital concealed an underground Hamas command and control center. The Palestinian Islamist movement has denied this. The army also presented satellite photos showing a Hamas rocket launch facility, located less than 100 m from the hospital.
On October 28 and 29, after evacuation orders from the Israeli army, the surroundings of this hospital opened in 2015 and financed by Indonesia were bombed, according to the UN.
In recent days, Israeli troops also stormed al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City. Hundreds of patients, doctors and displaced people who had taken refuge in the hospital were evacuated. According to the WHO, whose experts visited al-Shifa, it was still housing 20 caregivers and more than 250 patients on Sunday.
The war was sparked by Hamas’ unprecedented attack on Israeli soil on October 7, when, according to authorities, 1,200 people, the vast majority civilians, were killed. Around 240 people were also taken hostage according to Israel.
In retaliation, Israel has vowed to “annihilate” Hamas and is relentlessly shelling the Gaza Strip. According to the Palestinian Islamist movement’s government, 13,300 people were killed in Israeli bombings, including more than 5,500 children.
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