“We can hardly walk,” the sisters said after being ordered to evacuate the last major hospital in Northern Gaza.
Sisters Hind and Heba Al-Hourani were treated at the Al-Ahli Arab Baptist Hospital on Sunday, when Israel ordered everyone in the building to evacuate in the middle of the night before targeting the hospital.
“all of a sudden, [it felt like] Everyone ran out and planned to leave us behind. We are scared. ”
Heba said once they walked on the street, they didn’t know where to go.
“We prayed on the street that we could hardly walk or do anything with our injured legs,” Heba said. “It was a very difficult situation and it was very scary.”
Arab Baptist Arab Baptist Hospital, the last large hospital to provide intensive care in northern Gaza, was forced to close after an Israeli strike severely damaged the emergency room. The strike is one of the latest hits for Gaza’s devastating medical infrastructure, and as international humanitarian groups say the hospital supplies have run out, no new aid has entered the territory for more than seven weeks.
Once told they were to evacuate, they grabbed the mattress and tried to take the injured patient out of the building.
“The girls were screaming in the street…Hind was screaming, because she was in pain, so we put her on my sister’s mattress and pulled them down the street,” Al-Hourani said.
“We call on others to help us cross the rubble in the street.”
Amputee Hind and her sister Heba Al-Hourani, among hundreds of injured patients, were forced to evacuate the Arab Baptist Baptist Hospital after Israel warned that it would attack the building. Israel claims it has a Hamas command and control center without evidence. Hamas denied the charges.
Hospital closure means less urgent care available
Others helped them reach Red Crescent Field Hospital, about 600 meters from Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza, about one kilometer, where they can receive treatment, Al-Hourani said.
Israel said it targeted the HAMAS command and control center inside the Al-Ahli hospital and provided no evidence, an allegation used in past strikes against the Gaza hospital. Hamas denied the allegations.
The Jerusalem Bishop, which runs the hospital, said the evacuation warning was 20 minutes before the air strike. On Sunday, it called on the international community to intervene to “stop all kinds of attacks on medical and humanitarian institutions.”
Gaza Health Ministry said a patient, a girl, died during the evacuation because staff were unable to provide urgent care.
Fadl Naeem, director of Al-Ahli Hospital, said its emergency room is treating about 300 people a day. Naeem said the hospital’s labs and X-ray departments were also closed after the attack.
He told CBC News on Monday that there would be plans that would take weeks or months, but since Israel blocked AIDS trucks on March 2, no new humanitarian supplies have entered the Palestinian enclave because conversations stagnated between Israel and Hamas.
Very low medical supplies
Afaf al-Hourani said her niece’s condition worsened due to lack of drugs in Gaza. Hind and Heba were severely injured in an Israeli air strike in Gaza, killing their brother earlier this month.
“If the intersection is open, [Israel] Allow the medication to join for the injured, and then they will not suffer. ” said Al-Hourani.
Israeli air strikes have destroyed part of the last fully functional hospital in Gaza City, Al-Ahli Arab Hospital. Witnesses said the strike destroyed the intensive care unit of the hospital.
On Friday, Red Cross President Mirjana Spoljaric told Reuters that medical supplies in the enclave were very low.
“We are now finding ourselves having to describe ourselves as hell. … People don’t have access to water, electricity, food in many places,” Sporjarich said.
Dr Hassan Al-Shaer, medical director of Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza, said the facility evacuated about 50 patients on Sunday.
“There are limited beds here and the number of services is limited,” al-Shaer told CBC News on Tuesday. “It’s hard to receive them.”
The hospital is the largest medical complex and central hospital in Gaza, which has fewer than 100 beds in patients, compared to about 700 beds before the 18-month war.
UN chiefs “deeply shocked” during hospital strike
A spokesman for UN Secretary-General António Guterres said he was “deeply shocked” when Israeli troops strike at Al-Ahli Hospital on Sunday.
A spokesman for the United Nations Chief said: “Under international humanitarian law, injured and sick people, medical personnel and medical institutions, including hospitals, must be respected and protected.”
He said the attack caused a “severe blow to the already damaged healthcare system [Gaza] strip. ”
During the 18-month war, the Israeli military attacked and attacked hospitals several times, accusing Hamas militants of hiding them or using them for military purposes. Hospital staff denied the allegations and accused Israel of reckless endangering civilians and destroying its health care infrastructure.
An Israeli air strike hit the north gate of Kuwait Field Hospital in the Muwasi area on Tuesday, killing a medical worker and injuring nine others.
All the injured patients and medical staff, two of whom were in critical condition, said hospital spokesman Saber Mohammed.
The Israeli military did not immediately comment.
Palestinian officials said more than 51,000 Palestinians were killed in the Israeli offensive in Gaza. These include Israel ending a ceasefire since more than 1,600 people were killed since the beginning and regained offensive last month to oppress Hamas to accept changes to the deal.
The Ministry of Health in Gaza did not say how many civilians or combatants were, but said women and children accounted for more than half of the dead.
According to Israeli Tales (Israeli), communities in southern Israel were attacked on October 7, 2023, and Israel began attacks, killing 1,200 people and kidnapped 251 people as hostages. 59 people are still inside Gaza, 24 of whom are considered alive.
