As Israel has ordered the evacuation of surrounding regions and hinted at a potential ground attack in a town that has been mostly spared during the war, one of Gaza’s remaining operational hospitals has been emptying out in recent days, officials said on Monday.
The primary medical facility for central Gaza is the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, located in Deir al-Balah. Although patients and those seeking sanctuary there worry it could be the target of an attack or become involved in conflict, the Israeli military has not ordered its evacuation.
Additionally, on Monday, fighting between Israel and Hezbollah resumed across the border in Lebanon, and Israeli bombings in Gaza City and Khan Younis claimed the lives of at least 19 Palestinians, according to local officials.
Over the course of the 10-month conflict, Israeli forces have raided multiple Gazan hospitals, claiming Hamas is exploiting them for military objectives. Palestinian health officials have refuted these claims.
The United Nations believes that around 90% of Gaza’s 2.3 million residents have been forced from their homes as a result of Israeli evacuation orders, which currently encompass about 84% of the territory. Many have experienced multiple displacements.
The humanitarian zone that Israel established at the beginning of the conflict has shrunk as a result of the evacuation orders, which have also forced additional Palestinians into it. Aid organizations report that food and clean water are in short supply and that sickness is spreading rapidly among the thousands of Palestinian families camped out in tent camps along the beach.
The latest satellite photos that are accessible from PlanetLabs and analyzed by The Associated Press show the increase in tent density along the beachfront since July 19.
The Israeli military has issued three evacuation orders for over 19 neighborhoods in northern Gaza and Deir al-Balah, affecting more than 8,000 people staying in these areas.
The orders cover an area including or near the UN and other humanitarian centers, the Al Aqsa hospital, two clinics, three wells, one water reservoir, and one desalination plant. Doctors Without Borders, an international charity, said an explosion around 250 meters from the hospital on Sunday caused panic, accelerating the exodus.
The Israeli military said it was operating against Hamas in Deir al-Balah and working to dismantle its remaining infrastructure there. It said the evacuation orders were issued to protect civilians and did not include nearby hospitals or medical facilities.
The army has excluded hospitals from past evacuation orders, but patients and others have still fled, fearing for their safety.
Israel’s forces are expanding operations on the outskirts of Deir al-Balah and have discovered weapons in a residential apartment and dismantled an underground Hamas tunnel about 700 meters long.
Local health officials said an Israeli airstrike hit a group of people on the seashore in Gaza City, killing at least seven men while they were fishing.
Another strike hit a vehicle inside the Israeli-declared humanitarian zone near the southern city of Khan Younis, killing at least five people.
Hospitals have repeatedly been turned into battlegrounds, both literally and in the rival narratives surrounding the war.
Israel’s army has raided a number of medical facilities since the start of the war and has provided some evidence that militants were inside some of them.
Medical staff deny the allegations and accuse the army of reckless disregard for civilians. Only 16 of Gaza’s 36 hospitals are even partially functioning, even as they treat casualties from daily Israeli airstrikes across the territory.
(Reuters)
