Israeli military evacuated Tuesday the Indonesian Hospital in northern Gaza, forcing patients, some on foot, to seek care miles away in Gaza City, according to the territory’s Health Ministry.
A Palestinian boy inspects the rubble of a destroyed house and damaged cars following Israeli airstrikes on Deir al-Balah, in central Gaza Strip, Palestine, Dec. 22, 2024. (EPA Photo)
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 claims its operation around the three northern Gaza communities surrounding the hospital – Beit Lahia, Beit Hanoun and Jabalia – is targeting Hamas members.
Palestinians accuse Israel of seeking to permanently depopulate northern Gaza to create a buffer zone, which Israel denies.
Munir al-Bursh, director of the Gazan Health Ministry, said the Israeli army had ordered hospital officials to evacuate it 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 operating in the area.
“Occupation forces have taken the three hospitals out of medical service because of the repeated attacks that undermined them and destroyed parts of them,” Bursh said in a statement.
The Israeli military said it was looking into the report.
Officials at the three hospitals have so far refused orders by Israel to evacuate their facilities or leave patients unattended since the new military offensive began on Oct. 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 Organization.
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.
Israeli forces have operated in the vicinity of the hospital since Monday, medics said.
Strikes continue
Meanwhile, Israeli bombardment continued elsewhere in the enclave and authorities said at least 21 Palestinians, including a member of the civil emergency service, were killed in separate military strikes across the enclave Tuesday.
The latest killings took the total Palestinian death toll in Gaza 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 Israel’s genocidal war.
The war in Gaza was triggered by the Hamas incursion of southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023 attack on southern Israel, which caused 1,200 deaths and took 251 hostages to Gaza, according to Israeli tallies.
A fresh cease-fire bid by mediators Egypt, Qatar and the United States has gained momentum this month, though no breakthrough has yet been reported.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday said progress had been made in hostage negotiations with Hamas but that he did not know how much longer it would take to see the results.
Gaps between Israel and Hamas over a possible Gaza cease-fire have narrowed, according to Israeli and Palestinian officials’ remarks Monday, though crucial differences have yet to be resolved.
