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Israeli troops forced the evacuation of an Indonesian hospital in northern Gaza and many patients, some of them on foot, arrived at another hospital miles away in Gaza City, the territory’s health ministry said on Tuesday.
The Indonesian hospital is one of the few still partially functional hospitals in the Gaza Strip, on its northern edge, an area that has been under intense Israeli military pressure for nearly three months.
Israel says its operations around three northern Gaza communities surrounding the hospital – Beit Lahiya, Beit Hanoun and Jabalia – are targeting Hamas militants.
Palestinians accuse Israel of seeking to permanently empty northern Gaza to create a buffer zone, which Israel denies.
Munir Al-Bursh, director of the health ministry in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip, said the Israeli army ordered hospital officials to evacuate it on Monday, before storming it in the early hours of Tuesday morning and forcing those inside to leave her.
He said two other medical facilities in the northern Gaza Strip, Al-Awda and Kamal Adwan hospitals, were also subject to frequent attacks by Israeli troops operating in the area.
“Three hospitals have been cut off from medical service by the occupying forces due to repeated attacks that undermined them and destroyed parts of them,” Bursh said in a statement on Tuesday.
The Israeli military said it was studying the report.
Hospital officials refuse to evacuate, leave patients behind
Officials at the three hospitals have so far refused Israeli orders to evacuate their facilities or leave patients unattended since a new military offensive began on October 5.
Israel says that during this period, in cooperation with international agencies such as the World Health Organization, it facilitated the delivery of medical supplies, fuel and the transfer of patients to other hospitals in the enclave.
Hussam Abu Safiya, director of Kamal Adwan Hospital, said they resisted a new army order to evacuate hundreds of patients, their attendants and staff, adding that the hospital was under constant Israeli fire that damaged generators, oxygen pumps and parts of buildings.
Israeli forces have been operating near the hospital since Monday, doctors said.
Meanwhile, Israeli bombardment continued elsewhere in the enclave and medics said at least nine Palestinians, including a member of the civilian emergency services, were killed in four separate military attacks across the enclave on Tuesday.
The Gaza war was triggered by an October 7, 2023, attack by Hamas on southern Israel, in which 1,200 people were killed and 251 taken hostage in Gaza, according to Israeli figures.
Israel’s campaign against Hamas has since killed more than 45,200 Palestinians, according to Gaza health officials. Most of the population of 2.3 million have been displaced, and much of Gaza is in ruins.
Talks to broker a cease-fire and hostage-release deal between Israel and Hamas have resumed in Cairo, and sources close to the talks say the deal could be signed in the coming days. Palestinians in southern Gaza say they hope this round of talks will lead to an end to the war so life can resume.
A fresh effort by mediators Egypt, Qatar and the United States to end the fighting and free Israeli and foreign hostages gained momentum this month, although no progress has yet been reported.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday that progress had been made in hostage negotiations with Hamas, but that he did not know how long it would take to see results.
Gaps between Israel and Hamas over a possible cease-fire in Gaza they narrowedaccording to remarks by Israeli and Palestinian officials on Monday, although key differences have yet to be resolved.
