GAZA – The Israeli army forcibly evacuated about 500 patients from Al-Shifa Hospital in the west of Gaza City, including those who had been injured in previous attacks, and left them to meet their fate on the streets, despite then being in serious condition and in need of extensive medical care, the government’s media office in the Gaza Strip said on Saturday.
The Israeli army had given all those inside the Al-Shifa Medical Complex a one-hour deadline, forcing even patients in critical need of medical care to leave the health care facility, reported Anadolu Agency.
The Gaza media office held the Israeli occupation fully responsible for the safety and lives of all those who were in the Al-Shifa, including the wounded, premature babies, and medical staff.
“International institutions and organisations also bear responsibility for negligence, and weak follow-up and coordination, within the framework of protecting hospitals and health centres, which are supposed to have international and legal immunity,” the media office said in a statement.
The statement also stressed that fuel must be provided to all hospitals in the Gaza Strip, in order to carry out their health, medical and humanitarian duties towards tens of thousands of wounded and sick people.
Earlier on Saturday, the director of Al-Shifa Medical Complex said hundreds of patients, medical staff, other employees, and displaced civilians were evacuated from the hospital after the Israeli army set a one-hour deadline. – November 19, 2023