The Israeli occupation forces (IOF) gave doctors patients and displaced people at al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza one hour to evacuate the medical compound on Saturday morning causing a great state of panic and fear.
A medical source in al-Shifa told Al Jazeera satellite channel that it was “impossible” to evacuate as the facility which has been bombarded and besieged by Israeli troops for days houses about 7000 people including patients who are in critical condition.
“They do not have any ambulances to transfer the patients and premature babies to the south [of Gaza]” a reporter for Al Jazeera said.
Those in al-Shifa include at least 300 patients some or most of them in serious or critical condition as well as thousands of displaced families.
It also includes “at least 35 premature babies who already for eight days now have been out of their incubators because of the lack of oxygen and the lack of electricity” the Al Jazeera reporter added.
There were 39 babies who had been left without incubators; four died late on Friday and five are severely ill now.
The Israeli army instructed people to evacuate through al-Rashid street “not the usual street or route that people evacuating to the south are supposed to take they usually take Salah al-Din street” the Al Jazeera reporter said.
“The Israeli army has not provided them with any other solutions with any means of transportation with any fuel for ambulances or for any cars to transfer those patients premature babies displaced families to the south as they were ordered to do” the reporter added.
The hospital has been without food water electricity and oxygen for at least a week while Israeli troops and tanks raided the facility over the last couple of days.
Israel claimed Hamas has a command center underneath the hospital but found no evidence to support its claim. Hamas and hospital staff have always rejected the Israeli allegations about the facility.
Now the civilians at the hospital are expected to evacuate on foot.
