Surrounded by the sound of bombs, with frightened patients huddled away from windows, fuel running out and clean water gone, the acting director of Al Awda Hospital, one of the last hospitals in northern Gaza, said knew he was struggling with a grim feeling of déjà. vu.
“No one can move, no one can go near the window,” said Dr. Mohammad Salha, acting director. During the 18-day siege at Al Awda in December, three medical workers were shot dead through windows.
Dr. Salha said that since Sunday, about 150 people – including doctors, injured patients and infants, two of whom were born just a few days ago – have been trapped inside Al Awda, amid scene of Israel launching a new offensive in the north.
Dr. Salha said in a phone interview and voice message that the hospital was surrounded by Israeli troops. People in the hospital cannot leave, outside help cannot reach them and ambulances cannot respond to calls for the injured.
Doctors Without Borders, which has staff in the area, reported that the hospital had surrounded by tanks in Monday. An emergency medical team deployed at the hospital by the World Health Organization was forced to relocate on May 13 because of “increased hostilities,” the head of the organization, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said. said on social networks on Tuesday, in a call to protect remaining patients and staff.
The Israeli army declined to comment on its military operations around Al Awda.
The harsh conditions at the hospital are part of a pattern that has played out repeatedly across the Gaza Strip over seven months of war. Israeli forces surrounded and Hospital raid Later hospital, claiming they were being used by Hamas militants. Israeli soldiers do give back attacked several hospitals a second time in response to what the military said was a resurgent Hamas presence.
In December, Israeli forces surrounded Al Awda Hospital for nearly two weeks, then sent troops inside, killing some people and arresting others for questioning, according to Doctors Without Borders. , its employees were among those detained.
The hospital’s director, Dr. Ahmed Muhanna, is one of those detained by Israel and his whereabouts are unknown, according to ActionAid, an NGO that supports the hospital. Dr. Salha has since replaced him as leader of the hospital staff.
The former head of orthopedics at Al-Shifa Hospital, Dr. Adnan Ahmad Albursh, was also detained in December at Al Awda, where he was working. He died in Israeli custodyPalestinian officials and human rights groups said earlier this month.
Dr Salha said no one could get in or out of Al Awda, and doctors and patients had gathered in interior rooms and corridors in an effort to protect themselves from gunfire and shells hitting the side walls. outside.
He said four newborns were among those stuck at the hospital – two were born by cesarean section on May 18 and two others were the children of nurses at the hospital.
On Monday, about three days of fuel remained and there was no clean water, Dr. Salha said. He said those trapped inside were “very scared”.
The only major partially functioning hospital in the north, Kamal Adwan, was attacked several times on Tuesday, according to witnesses, Gaza health officials and Gaza health officials. WHO The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the attacks.
Like Al Awda, Kamal Adwan was raided by Israeli forces in December, and since then it has become an important facility for Treatment of malnourished children in the north.
Footage from Reuters showed people evacuating the area around the hospital on Tuesday, some wearing white medical coats and others being carried out on stretchers. Hospital director Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya told this news agency that after the entrance to the emergency department was bombed, rockets were continuously launched, preventing medical staff from reaching the victims.
“The situation is dire,” he said.
Ameera Harouda Report contributions.
