Staff at European Hospital say evacuating patients ‘extraordinarily difficult’
Evacuating patients from the European Hospital in Khan Younis following an Israeli order is “extraordinarily difficult”, Jeremy Hickey, an anaesthesiologist with the nonprofit organisation Fajr Scientific, has told Al Jazeera.
Hickey had been working at the medical facility in southern Gaza for two weeks when his colleagues learned through social media of an evacuation order for the eastern part of the city.
The hospital later received a formal request to promptly evacuate. The anaesthesiologist relocated to Deir el-Balah, in central Gaza, but said that many patients remained at the medical facility, which was among the few functioning ones in Gaza.
“There are around 500-600 patients at the hospital, all had some family with them,” he said. A few critical patients were transported to Nasser Hospital but relocating the rest will be a hard task because of fuel prices and the nature of their injuries, he added.
Families displaced from Khan Younis sleep on the ground
We’ve been reporting on the evacuation orders issued by the Israeli army ordering residents of the eastern part of Khan Younis, in south Gaza, to leave their homes and places of shelter.
Video posted by local Palestinian sources shows exhausted families who fled lying on the ground after finding no place to take shelter this evening.
https://www.instagram.com/reel/C85OUGCgIsL
After evacuation orders, attack on Khan Younis leaves dead, injured
Local sources report that at least one Palestinian has died and at least six others have been injured after the Israeli army shelled a house in the eastern area of Khan Younis.
Footage obtained by Al Jazeera shows the arrival of those killed and injured in the attack at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, where citizens were forced to transport the victims through civilian cars due to the inability of ambulances to reach the place.
Red Crescent says Al-Amal Hospital overcrowded amid inflow of patients from European Hospital
The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) says the Al-Amal Hospital in Khan Younis is overflowing with patients as more are transferred from the European Hospital after the Israeli army issued an order to evacuate the eastern part of the city.
Some had first been moved to Nasser Hospital but the medical facility also became overcrowded, requiring a new transfer to Al-Amal Hospital.
The Al-Fukhari area, where the European Hospital is located, is among several areas that received the evacuation order, which generally signals an imminent ground assault by Israeli troops and tanks.
PRCS Al-Amal Hospital in Khan Younis is now overcrowded with injuries following the Israeli occupation's warning to evacuate the Al-Fukhari area, where the European Gaza Hospital is located. Ambulance crews transported the injured from Nasser Hospital after it also became… pic.twitter.com/VtPPwnloQp
— PRCS (@PalestineRCS) July 1, 2024
A timeline of Israeli evacuation orders and displacement in Khan Younis
Here’s a look at some of the key moments in Israel’s months-long assault on Khan Younis:
December 5, 2023
Israel expects its “military operation” in Khan Younis to last up to four weeks, a senior Israeli defence official tells US news outlet Axios.
Israeli forces surround Khan Younis, with many of the thousands of Palestinians who are forced to flee the city seeking refuge in neighbouring Rafah.
February 14, 2024
Israel orders the evacuation of Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis while Israeli snipers fire on anyone moving on the grounds of the facility and nearby.
April 8, 2024
Israeli troops withdraw from Khan Younis in preparation for a ground invasion of neighbouring Rafah, with Palestinian residents returning to find the city in ruins.
May 6, 2024
Tent camps for the displaced in Khan Younis swell after Israel orders 1.4 million Palestinians seeking shelter in neighbouring Rafah to evacuate.
June 23, 2024
Israeli tanks approach the al-Mawasi “safe zone” between Rafah and Khan Younis days after an Israeli strike killed 25 people there, forcing thousands more Palestinians to flee to Khan Younis.
July 1, 2024
Israel issues an evacuation order for eastern Khan Younis, telling residents to flee to an unspecified “humanitarian zone”, which appears to not exist in the Gaza Strip as no area is considered safe from attack by the Israeli military.
Palestinians displaced by the Israeli air and ground offensive flee from parts of Khan Younis following an Israeli army evacuation order
