GAZA CITY – Thousands of Palestinians have taken shelter at the Al-Shifa Hospital, the largest hospital in the Gaza Strip, from ongoing Israeli airstrikes.
“Around 35,000 residents of Gaza take shelter at the hospital from the Israeli aggression,” Anadolu Agency quoted the hospital Director Mohamed Abu Slima as saying on Facebook, Saturday.
“The population are in total panic and fear,” he said, adding that families set up their tents in the medical complex “for safety.”
The Israeli military warned 1.1 million residents in northern Gaza to evacuate their homes Friday and move south immediately, prompting thousands to take shelter at the hospital.
The Gaza-based Health Ministry said at least 70 Palestinians were killed and 200 injured in an Israeli airstrike on a convoy of trucks carrying displaced civilians heading from northern Gaza to the south.
United Nations (UN) spokesperson Stephane Dujarric warned that it would be impossible for Palestinians in Gaza to obey the order to leave the north without “devastating humanitarian consequences.”
Israel has defied international calls to halt its offensive and has killed nearly 2,000 Palestinians, including more than 500 children since October 7.
Israel has also cut water and electricity supplies to Gaza, worsening the blockaded enclave’s already dire humanitarian situation.
Home to nearly 2.2 million people, the Gaza Strip has already been reeling under a crippling Israeli siege since 2007. – October 14, 2023