Israel evacuates crucial Gaza hospital that may mean 'killing 400 patients'
Israel has ordered the complete evacuation of a hospital where as many as 14,000 displaced Gazans are believed to be sheltering.
Its forces have launched several airstrikes in the area around al-Quds Hospital, damaging most nearby buildings including a block of flats. Hundreds of patients are still being treated at the facility, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent, as missiles fall just metres away.
The head of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said: “The Palestinian Red Crescent report of evacuation threats to al-Quds hospital in Gaza is deeply concerning. We reiterate... it’s impossible to evacuate hospitals full of patients without endangering their lives.”
People in Israel have been using yellow ribbons in their campaign to bring hostages back home (Humphrey Nemar)A spokesman for the Red Crescent added: “We have over 400 patients who are inside the hospital, many of them are in the intensive care unit. Evacuating them means killing them. That’s why we refuse the evacuation order.”
Israel launched a second phase of war over the weekend, with IDF forces intensifying operations. The IDF said this morning it struck 450 targets it claimed belonged to Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Harrowing pictures showed mass destruction around Al-Bilal mosque within the Al-Bureij camp.
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IDF spokesman Daniel Hagari said: “We’re gradually expanding the ground activities and the extent of our forces in the Gaza Strip. The ground operation is complex and involves risks for our forces too.
Destruction around Al-Bilal mosque in Al-Bureij refugee camp in Gaza (Mohammed Talatene/picture-alliance/dpa/AP Images)“We will do everything in our power – from the air, sea and ground – to ensure the safety of our forces and to achieve the war’s objectives.” Thousands of starving Gazans have broken into United Nations warehouses to grab food.
They stormed the distribution centres and warehouses of the UN’s Palestinian refugee agency “taking wheat flour and other basic survival items like hygiene supplies”. Thomas White, of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, said the warehouse break-ins were “a worrying sign that civil order is starting to break down”.
Gaza has been bombed for three weeks and thousands of people have died (BBC)He added: “People are scared, frustrated and desperate.” Israel has allowed only a small trickle of aid to enter from Egypt, some of which was stored in one of the warehouses that was broken into.
International Criminal Court prosecutor Karim Khan visited the Rafah border crossing this weekend and said the ICC has “active investigations ongoing in relation to the crimes, allegedly committed in Israel the 7th of October and also in relation to Gaza and the West Bank.” Across the border 40 miles north, the hostages taken by Hamas have become the key focus of Israelis and huge demonstrations take place daily.
Families and friends of Israelis held hostage by Hamas have been calling on the government to act for their release (Gili Yaari/NurPhoto/REX/Shutterstock)An Israeli mother whose two children and husband were kidnapped has called for the army to hold off
fully invading Gaza until all the hostages are freed. Hadas Kalderon’s mother and niece, Carmela and Noya Dan, were murdered by the abductors. She still has hope her son Erez, 12, daughter Sahar, 16, and 53-year-old husband Ofer will be released.
But she warned: “There must be no full-scale ground invasion until all the hostages are out safely.” Haviva Levi’s nephew Matan, 24, was abducted with his girlfriend Ilana, 30.
Haviva Levi with a posted of nephew Matan (Humphrey Nemar)We met her at the peaceful protest in Tel Aviv today. She had Matan’s photo around her neck. She said: “We know from his phone signal that he was taken into Gaza. She was seen on the back of a motorbike so we know she was alive.
“We are praying they are still alive. We just want to see them back home safely. That’s all that’s important at the minute.” An MP with family in Gaza said civilians are now having to decide where they want to die as she described her “torturous” wait for news after contact was lost.
A crowd of people in UNRWA's warehouse in Gaza taking food and other essential items (AFP)Lib Dem Layla Moran hit out at a Tory minister who claimed people are staying put because Hamas is telling them to, branding this “deeply offensive”. She said: “Nowhere in Gaza is safe.
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“The conversation in Gaza now, I’m afraid to say, has changed. No longer are people saying, ‘Where do we go to be safe?’ The question they are now asking is, ‘Where do we want to be when we die?’” Scottish First Minister Humza Yousaf said he had heard from his wife’s parents who are trapped in Gaza and have run out of clean drinking water. He added: “The UN resolution must be implemented. We need the violence to stop and for significant amounts of aid to get through without delay.”
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