Six doctors will stay behind to take care of 120 patients who cannot move due to poor health conditions at Gaza’s Al-Shifa hospital, the facility’s Head of Plastic Surgery Ahmed El Mokhallalati said Saturday, after others left following a reported evacuation order.
“Most of the medical staff had left Al-Shifa hospital, as the Israeli occupation army ordered everyone to evacuate the hospital. Many patients cannot leave the hospital as they are in the ICU beds or the baby incubators,” he wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.
“We call on the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and World Health Organization (WHO) to take action to protect the medical staff and patients at Al-Shifa hospital,” Mokhallalati added.
The Israeli army earlier denied ordering the evacuation.
Hundreds of people left the hospital on foot, according to an AFP journalist at the scene.
Their destination was unclear but many – including sick and injured patients, medical professionals and previously-displaced civilians – appeared to be making their way towards the seafront, AFP reported. CNN has been unable to confirm the number of people who have left the facility.
Evacuating a hospital in an active war zone is “an extremely complex and logistically challenging operation” and the team on the ground lacks fuel, vehicles, incubators and other medical resources, ICRC spokesperson Ala’a Nayel told CNN Saturday.
“It is heartbreaking to see the most vulnerable bear the brunt of the conflict,” Nayel said.
Some background: It’s not been confirmed what prompted the mass exodus Gaza’s largest hospital on Saturday morning. Thousands of displaced civilians had been sheltering at the medical complex in increasingly dire conditions.
The hospital became a battleground on Wednesday when Israeli troops raided the facility in an operation against Hamas. Israel claims the group has been operating an underground command center below the complex – an allegation which both Hamas and hospital officials have denied. CNN has been unable to verify the claims of either Israel or Hamas.
Earlier Saturday, conflicting accounts of the evacuation request for Al-Shifa emerged. Several doctors there said that they’d been ordered to leave by the Israeli military, with one saying the hospital director had received a phone call specifying that fleeing individuals should wave white flags or handkerchiefs as they departed. However, the Israeli military has disputed issuing such an order.
CNN
