The Israeli military demanded the immediate evacuation of Al-Awda Hospital in Tal al-Zaatar on Thursday, May 29, the last operational hospital in northern Gaza.
The Director General of the World Health Organisation, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, in a post on X, informed that the Al-Awda Hospital is now out of service, with 97 people, including 13 patients, remaining inside. He also said that WHO is planning a mission on May 30 to transfer them to another facility. However, due to impassable roads, the hospital’s medical equipment cannot be relocated.
“With Al-Awda’s closure, there is no remaining functional hospital in North Gaza, severing a critical lifeline for the people there. WHO pleads for the hospital’s protection and staff and patients’ safety, and reiterates its call for the active protection of civilians and health care. Hospitals must never be attacked or militarised. Ceasefire!” Ghebreyesus said in the post.
Between May 24 and May 27, the WHO, along with its partners, carried out evacuations of critical patients to the Al-Shifa hospital. Over the two missions, 57 people were transferred from Al-Awda, including 9 patients, three of them are health workers injured in an attack on May 23.
They said that during the first mission, the team was exposed to nearby airstrikes, shelling, and gunfire and said that access is severely restricted due to continued hostilities in the area.
The team also assisted an amputee who had been stranded near the hospital without food, water, or companions. WHO’s post on X on May 29 said that Al-Awda remained minimally functional and critically low on medicines after hostilities caused a fire that destroyed its medical warehouse.
According to the WAFA news agency, the hospital and its surroundings were targeted by live fire and shelling, just days before the evacuation notice.
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