8,000 displaced people evacuated from Gaza hospital, says Red Cross

KHAN YOUNIS – AFP

Around 8,000 displaced people have been evacuated from Al Amal hospital in Gaza’s main southern city of Khan Younis where they had sought refuge, according to the Red Cross.

“The humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip is beyond catastrophic (…)The situation is simply deteriorating every other minute,” said Tommaso Della Longa, spokesperson of the IFRC, while addressing a press briefing in Geneva.

He said the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip was “beyond catastrophic and literally desperate”.

“The last update that I got from Palestinian Red Crescent colleagues yesterday is that 8,000 internally displaced people who sought refuge in our Palestinian Red Crescent hospital in Khan Yunis, called Al-Amal, left the hospital yesterday.”

This had to be done because in the last more than two weeks, the hospital had been surrounded by heavy shelling and falling bombs. The hospital itself was hit several times.

As a result of one of the hits, a Red Cross worker had been killed.

Longa continued, “I won’t even think about the possibility of another hospital closed in the next coming days. But the reality here is that if the situation will not change it will be very difficult to continue the activities in the hospital.”

He said that at the moment there were nearly a hundred elderly and disabled people who could not be moved out, as well as 80 critical patients. Over a hundred staff and volunteers of the hospital were also still inside in order to continue giving care to these people.

Longa ended on a grim note, saying that “the situation is simply deteriorating every other minute. And we said it many times that we don’t have anymore words, and I’m a bit frustrated even to keep repeating the same.”

As the relentless and indiscriminate Israeli attacks continue, several hospitals have been destroyed or rendered dysfunctional. Calls for a humanitarian cease-fire as well as ICJ rulings to desist from genocidal actions have been thrust aside by Israel. With over 27,000 dead and nearly 67,000 injured and medical care unavailable, Gaza continues to writhe in unspeakable pain and suffering.

“Al Amal”, the name of the ill-fated hospital, means “the Hope” in Arabic.