CITIZENS NEWS

Israel bombs yet another Gaza hospital, killing more innocent civilians

By isabelle // 2024-05-23

An Israeli airstrike destroyed a UNRWA clinic in Gaza City last week, killing at least 14 people. The Al-Sabra clinic was said to be one of the only safe places remaining in the area, and numerous displaced families had been sheltering there. NBC News shared footage of injured people seeking treatment at Baptist Hospital in Gaza City. In cramped and dirty conditions, children and the elderly could be seen grieving the loss of their loved ones while suffering from gruesome injuries. Witnesses told the outlet that IDF forces leveled a UNRWA school next door to the clinic, shelling it and compromising the only source of water the day before the attack, which occurred during traditional prayers at dawn. One of the men searching for bodies in the rubble expressed unease about the situation, saying that with hospitals being targeted, it feels like there are no safe places for them to go. Everyone is on edge there, and this was on full display when the panicked staff at a hospital in Northern Gaza evacuated patients following a missile strike on Tuesday. The missiles struck the hospital’s emergency department, spurring staff to rush patients out into the rubble-filled streets on their hospital beds and stretchers. Video footage showed doctors in their blue scrubs wheeling the patients outside, looking all around in fear of further strikes and shouting amid the panic. The head of the Kamal Adwan Hospital in Jabalya, Hussam Abu Safia, said: “The first missile when it hit, it hit the entrance of the emergency department. We tried to enter, and then a second missile hit, and the third hit the building nearby.” He added: “We cannot go back inside to them. We really never imagined that, one day, the emergency department will be hit. The emergency department provides a service for children, the elderly and people inside the departments of the hospital.” A spokesperson for the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry told Reuters that patients were being evacuated to medical points in northern Gaza as well as Baptist Hospital in Gaza City. There are also reports that another hospital in northern Gaza, Al-Awda Hospital, has been under siege for several days, with dozens of staff, patients and loved ones trapped inside. Hospitals have been shockingly common targets in the war, with at least 90 incidents documented involving hospitals. Other high-profile incidents include Israeli raids on Gaza City’s Al Shifa Hospital and Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, along with the destruction of the Hayfa facility, which served 9,000 patients per month. Only four of the 36 Gazan hospitals tracked by the UN have not reported damage from munitions, IDF raids or service challenges. This is despite international law governing war specifying that hospitals cannot be targeted during conflicts unless they are used to cause harm and those attacking them protect civilians there.

UNRWA announces 75% of Gazan population has been displaced

The UNRWA announced today that 75% of the population in Gaza has now been forcibly displaced, with some of them experiencing displacement multiple times. The newest wave of displacements saw nearly a million people fleeing from Rafah following orders for residents to evacuate issued by Israeli forces. The agency reports that many of the families sheltering in its facilities do not have vital supplies and services or even tents for sheltering. In a post on X, they wrote: “For thousands of Palestinian families there is nowhere left to go: military operations & bombardments pose a continuous threat, buildings have been turned to rubble. Nowhere is safe in Gaza.” Meanwhile, the Gaza Health Ministry reports that the number of those killed at the hands of Israeli forces since the war broke out in October now stands at 35,709, with a further 79,990 people injured. Sources for this article include: MiddleEastMonitor.com WashingtonPost.com

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