– Men over the age of 16, including six of MSF’s staff, were dragged out of the hospital, stripped, tied up and questioned. After the interrogations, most of them were sent back inside and told not to move, says a statement from Doctors Without Borders on Tuesday evening. In the statement, they confirm that the Al Awda hospital in the north of Gaza had been captured by Israeli forces on 17 December. This will be the last partially functioning hospital in the north of Gaza. This may indicate that there are no more partially functioning hospitals for the population in the north of the area. The World Health Organization (WHO) informs news that there are four hospitals left with minimal operations. Al Awda is among these. Now the organization states that there are no more functioning hospitals in the north of Gaza. According to the WHO’s latest figures, there are only eight functioning hospitals left in Gaza. The reasons are both combat actions, attacks and lack of fuel and equipment. The Kamal Adwan hospital in the north of Gaza is said to have been captured by Israeli forces on 16 December. The IDF has confirmed that they carried out an “operation” at the hospital. Photo: STAFF / Reuters At the weekend, attacks were reported against several hospitals in the north of Gaza. In the WHO’s database, one attack against the healthcare system was recently registered on Saturday, four on Sunday and two on Monday. Three people were killed in the attack registered on Saturday. On Saturday, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) confirmed that they had finished an “operation” in and near the Kamal Adwan hospital in northern Gaza. According to a statement from the WHO chief, eight patients were killed in the “destruction of the Kamal Adwan hospital”. On Sunday, three attacks were registered which resulted in one death, two injuries and 21 patients who were abducted or arrested. It is on Sunday Doctors Without Borders reports that Israeli forces captured the Al Awda hospital. Both Doctors Without Borders and the health authorities in Gaza have also confirmed to news that a hospital in the south of Gaza was also shelled. On Monday, 26 health personnel and seven patients were arrested or abducted in the attacks, according to WHO figures. Then the Shifa hospital, where tens of thousands have sought refuge, will also be attacked. 28 people died in the attack, according to the health authorities in Gaza. Almost 500 attacks against the healthcare system news has reviewed the WHO’s database for attacks against the healthcare system in occupied Palestinian territory since the war in Gaza broke out on 7 October. The review shows that the WHO has so far registered 497 attacks against the healthcare system in the areas. 149 of the attacks included heavy weapons, such as bombs, missiles and tanks. 126 of the attacks include weapons a person can operate, such as guns and knives. According to the organisation, 200 doctors have been killed so far during the war. About the graph Several types of violence are registered together as part of the same incident in the WHO database. news has distinguished the various categories of violence used by the WHO. Although over 700 attacks are shown in the graph above, several are part of the same attack. The real number of attacks from 7 October to 18 December is 497. The WHO database does not specify where the attack took place, or who is behind it. The healthcare system in the north of Gaza has been particularly hard hit. In November, hospitals such as Shifa, once Gaza’s largest and most important hospital, were captured by Israeli forces. Israel has justified several attacks on hospitals by saying that they believe Hamas has had a command center there. Hospital staff at a number of hospitals, and Hamas, have rejected this. Back in the hospital, which the WHO now describes as “a bloodbath”, are a handful of doctors and nurses, and tens of thousands of refugees. After the attacks that put the last hospitals in the north of Gaza out of action, this is where patients have been evacuated to, according to Deputy Health Minister Yousef Abu al-Rish. Yousef Abu al-Rish is deputy health minister in Gaza. Photo: ZUMA Press – Shifa is not in use, but unfortunately there is nowhere else people can go. After the forced evacuation of Kamal Adwan and after they arrested employees there, it was not safe there. They could not go anywhere other than Shifa with the patients, says al-Rish in an audio message to news. According to al-Rish, several of the hospital directors in hospitals in northern Gaza have been arrested. He does not know what has happened to them. A child was killed in this room in the maternity ward of Nasser Hospital, south of Gaza. Photo: STRINGER / AFP Fears of similar conditions in the south of Gaza When the hospitals in the north of Gaza were seized in November and ordered to be evacuated, it was among others the Nasser hospital in Khan Younis, in the south of Gaza, that the patients were moved to. Now, however, al-Rish fears that this hospital will suffer the same fate as the hospitals further north. On Sunday evening, a 13-year-old girl was killed and two children injured when the hospital was shelled. – They started by attacking the maternity ward and the children’s ward at Shifa. Now the same departments are attacking Nasser. They are getting closer and closer. – This time there is nowhere to evacuate the patients. There is nowhere else that can put them in, he says. Doctors Without Borders has limited its presence at the hospital, ending work at three health centers in southern Gaza. They describe the situation as precarious here as well: – Doctors are literally stepping over children’s corpses to treat other children who are still going to die, says Chris Hook, medical manager for Doctors Without Borders’ team at the hospital, in a statement news has received from the organisation. They also believe that what has happened to the healthcare system in the north of Gaza can happen further south. – What is going on in southern Gaza follows the same pattern as in the north: Israeli forces use scorched earth tactics and leave no safe places for the population, the statement says. Believes Hamas uses the hospitals Attacks on the healthcare system in conflict are a violation of the Geneva Convention, unless the healthcare institutions are used in a way that makes an effective contribution to the war. In a statement to news on WhatsApp, the IDF writes that it is “well documented that Hamas uses hospitals and health centers in terrorist activities”. The IDF writes that Hamas both attacks from hospitals, stores weapons in hospitals and has “military networks in and under hospitals”. – Such illegal military activity can lead to hospitals losing their protection against attack. We continue to ask the international community to call on Hamas to stop its use of hospitals as a shield for its terrorist activities, the IDF writes further. Throughout the war, the IDF has published documentation they believe proves that Hamas uses hospitals in Gaza. news has been sent this documentation, but cannot verify it. Furthermore, they write that they have arrested and interrogated health personnel if they suspect that they are involved in the activities of Hamas. – Individuals who we find have not been part of terrorist activity are released after questioning. The IDF is not interested in health workers because of their role as health workers, but because of their potential role in Hamas, the IDF writes.
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Northern Gaza’s last hospital out of action – fear of similar conditions in the south – news Urix – Foreign news and documentaries
