DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — One of Gaza’s last functioning hospitals has emptied in recent days as Israel ordered the evacuation of nearby areas and signaled a possible ground operation in a city that was largely spared during the war, officials said Monday.
Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah is the main hospital in central Gaza. The Israeli military has not ordered its evacuation, but patients and people sheltering there fear it could be engulfed by fighting or become the target of a raid.
Also on Monday, Israeli strikes in Gaza City and Khan Younis killed at least 12 people, local officials said, and fighting between Israel and Hezbollah resumed. across the Lebanese border.
Patients and families move in front of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al Balah, Gaza Strip, Sunday, Aug. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Israeli forces have overrun several hospitals in Gaza over the past week. the war that has been going on for 10 monthsaccusing Hamas of using them for military purposes, allegations denied by Palestinian health officials.
Israeli evacuation orders now cover approximately 84% of Gaza’s territoryAccording to the United Nations, about 90 percent of Gaza’s 2.3 million people have been forced from their homes. Many have been displaced multiple times, fleeing with what they can carry. Hundreds of thousands have crammed into crowded tent camps along the coast, where public services are few or nonexistent.
Associated Press reporters saw people fleeing the hospital and surrounding area Monday, many on foot. Some were pushing patients on stretchers or carrying sick children, while others held bags of clothes, mattresses and blankets. Four schools in the area were also evacuated.
“Where will we find medicine?” asks Adliyeh al-Najjar, resting outside the hospital. “Where will patients like me go?”
Fatimah al-Attar had to fight back tears as she left the hospital and headed toward the tent camps. “Our destiny is to die,” she said. “We have nowhere to go. There is no safe place.”
Doctors Without Borders, an international charity known by its French acronym MSF, said an explosion about 250 metres from the hospital on Sunday had caused panic, hastening the exodus.
“As a result, MSF is considering temporarily suspending wound care, while trying to maintain life-saving treatments,” she said on Platform X.
The hospital said it was treating more than 600 patients before the evacuation orders, which apply to residential areas about a kilometer away, remained in the hospital, including seven in intensive care and eight in the pediatric ward.
A woman sits on the sidewalk next to her belongings outside the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al Balah, Gaza Strip, Sunday, Aug. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
The Israeli military said it was carrying out an operation against Hamas in Deir al-Balah and was working to dismantle remaining infrastructure. It said the evacuation orders were issued to protect civilians and did not affect nearby hospitals or medical facilities. It also said it had informed Palestinian health officials that the facilities did not need to be evacuated.
The military excluded hospitals from past evacuation orders, but patients and others fled anyway, fearing for their safety.
Also Monday, an Israeli airstrike hit a group of people on the Gaza City coastline, killing at least seven men, according to local health officials. The Civil Defense, the first responders operating under the Hamas-led government, said the men were fishing when they were hit by a drone strike.
Another strike hit a vehicle inside the Israeli-declared humanitarian zone near the southern town of Khan Younis, killing at least five people, the Israeli military said in a statement. Kuwaiti field hospital, where the bodies were taken.
The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the attacks.
The war began on October 7 when Hamas militants attacked Israeli military bases and farming communities. The militants killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and dragged 250 hostages Back in Gaza.
Israel’s retaliatory offensive killed more than 40,000 PalestiniansAccording to the Gaza Health Ministry, the attacks caused heavy destruction across much of the territory. Hamas is still holding about 110 hostages, a third of whom are believed to have died, with most of the others freed during a ceasefire last year.
Israel continued to carry out strikes across Gaza as the United States, Egypt and Qatar attempted to negotiate a lasting ceasefire and the release of the remaining hostages. Significant gaps remain despite several months of high-level negotiations.
Hospitals have repeatedly have been transformed into battlefieldsboth literally and in the rival narratives surrounding the war.
Israel says Hamas and other militants are hiding in the hospitals, which have also served as shelters for thousands of displaced people, and using them for military purposes. The army has raided a number of medical facilities since the start of the war and provided evidence Militants were reportedly present in some of them. Medical staff deny the allegations and accuse the military of reckless disregard for civilians.
Hospitals may lose their protected status under international law if they are used for military purposes, but any operations against them must be proportionate and seek to spare civilians.
According to the World Health Organization, only 16 of Gaza’s 36 hospitals are partially functioning, although they are treating victims of daily Israeli airstrikes on the territory. The difficulty of importing and distributing humanitarian aid to Gaza has contributed to widespread hunger and epidemics, which puts even more strain on the health sector.
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Magdy reported from Cairo. Associated Press writer Melanie Lidman in Jerusalem contributed to this report.
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Follow AP’s coverage of the war on https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war
