CAIRO: Israeli troops forced the evacuation of the Indonesian Hospital in northern Gaza and many patients, some of them on foot, arrived at another hospital miles away in Gaza City, the territory’s health ministry said on Tuesday.

The Indonesian Hospital is one of the Gaza Strip’s few still partially functioning hospitals, on its northern edge, an area that has been under intense Israeli military pressure for nearly three months.

Israel says its operation around the three northern Gaza communities surrounding the hospital — Beit Lahiya, Beit Hanoun and Jabalia — is targeting Hamas fighters.

Palestinians accuse Israel of seeking to permanently depopulate northern Gaza to create a buffer zone.

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Munir Al-Bursh, director of the health ministry in the Gaza Strip, said the Israeli army had ordered hospital officials to evacuate it on Monday, before storming it in the early hours of Tuesday and forcing those inside to leave.

He said two other medical facilities in northern Gaza, Al-Awda and Kamal Adwan Hospitals, were also subject to frequent assaults by Israeli troops. Israeli forces have operated in the vicinity of the Kamal Adwan hospital since Monday, medics said.

Officials at the three hospitals have refused orders by Israel to evacuate their facilities or leave patients unattended since the new military offensive began on October 5.

Israel says it has been facilitating the delivery of medical supplies, fuel and the transfer of patients to other hospitals in the enclave during that period in collaboration with international agencies such as the World Health Organisation.

Hussam Abu Safiya, director of the Kamal Adwan Hospital, said they resisted a new order by the army to evacuate hundreds of patients, their companions and staff, adding that the hospital has been under constant Israeli fire that damaged generators, oxygen pumps and parts of the building.

New strikes

The health ministry in Gaza said on Tuesday that 21 people had been killed in the Palestinian territory in the past 24 hours, taking the overall war death toll to 45,338. The ministry also said in a statement that at least 107,764 people have been wounded in more than 14 months of the conflict.

Meanwhile, Israeli bombardment continued elsewhere in the enclave and medics said at least nine Palestinians, including a member of the civil emergency service, were killed in four separate military strikes on Tuesday.

Palestinian officials reported that Israeli forces killed two Palestinians, including a woman, during a raid at a refugee camp in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday.

According to the Palestinian ministry of health, 53-year-old Khawla Ali Abdullah Abdo was killed in an air strike at the Tulkarem camp, while 18-year-old Fathi Said Awda Ubaid was fatally shot in the chest and abdomen.

Both victims’ bodies were transferred to Thabet Hospital.

The Palestinian Red Crescent confirmed the deaths, saying its ambulances initially faced challenges accessing the scene due to the violence.

The Israeli military, which frequently conducts raids in the territory targeting individuals it identifies as wanted fighters, said in a statement that it had eliminated a fighter in close combat during a raid that began overnight. It was unclear which of the two Palestinians the Israeli statement referred to.

Residents of the Tulkarem camp reported that the raid, which began in the early hours of Tuesday, involved bulldozers destroying roads.

Violence in the West Bank has intensified since the war in Gaza broke out on October 7 last year following Hamas’ attack on Israel.

Since the Gaza war began, at least 805 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank by Israeli forces or settlers, according to the Palestinian health ministry.

Published in Dawn, December 25th, 2024