breaks downbreaking,
Thousands of displaced people and patients, many in critical condition, have no ambulances or access.
A medical source told Al Jazeera that Israeli forces have given doctors, patients and displaced persons at Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza an hour to evacuate the compound.
Bombed and besieged by Israeli troops for days, the facility, which houses about 7,000 people, including critically ill patients, is “impossible,” the doctor said.
“They don’t have any ambulances to transfer patients and premature babies to the south [of Gaza],” Al Jazeera’s Youmna Elsayed reported Saturday from Khan Younis in southern Gaza.
“He called it ‘a crisis’ to ask them to leave in an hour.”
Among those in al-Shifa are more than 300 patients, some or most of whom are in serious or critical condition, as well as thousands of displaced families.
These include “at least 35 premature babies who have already been out of incubators for eight days due to lack of oxygen and lack of electricity,” Elsayed said. There were 39 babies left without incubators; Four people died late on Friday and five are now seriously ill, our correspondent added.
“There is no transport in Gaza City and the northern areas due to lack of fuel, so people are expected to leave on foot. Doctors tell us that it is impossible to evacuate so many people on foot.
The Israeli army advised people to evacuate via al-Rashid Street, Elzayed said, adding that “people exiting south don’t have to take the usual street or route, they usually take Salah al-Din Street.”
The hospital has been without food, water, electricity and oxygen for at least a week, while Israeli troops and tanks have been raiding the facility for the past two days.
Israel claimed a Hamas command center was located beneath the hospital, but found no evidence to support its claim. Hamas and hospital staff have always rejected the Israeli claims.
This is a breaking story. More to follow.
