Hours after ordering European Hospital evacuation, Israeli army claims it didn’t
The Israeli army has shared a post on X giving further details of an evacuation order for the east of Khan Younis city issued by the military’s Arabic language spokesperson 13 hours earlier.
In the new post, the Israeli army claims the evacuation order does not apply to the European Hospital in Khan Younis.
However, the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) reported more than seven hours ago that patients were being transferred to nearby hospitals from the European Hospital after Israel ordered the evacuation of the east of the city, in what many sees as preparation for a ground assault on the area.
Jeremy Hickey, an anaesthesiologist with Fajr Scientific who was working at the European Hospital, told Al Jazeera that staff were notified the hospital needed to evacuate.
Videos verified by Al Jazeera’s fact-checking unit Sanad showed entire departments in the hospital were being emptied, including areas housing patients and tents for the displaced.
Israel’s military has attacked and destroyed hospitals across Gaza amid its months of bombardment of the Palestinian territory.
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
In a new post, the Israeli army now says people fleeing Khan Younis should head to the “al-Mawasi humanitarian zone”, almost 13 hours after an earlier post which simply said “you must evacuate immediately to the humanitarian zone”, without specifying where.
Though described as a “humanitarian zone”, Palestinians recently fled the area after Israeli tank fire and air strikes on al-Mawasi, including the Palestine Red Crescent Society, which evacuated its temporary headquarters from al-Mawasi on June 29.
At least 25 people were killed in two Israeli strikes on the al-Mawasi camp on June 21, while at least 21 people were killed there in another attack on May 28, according to Gaza officials.
A Palestinian man holds his children as he walks next to buildings destroyed in an Israeli strike in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, on June 30
Israeli evacuation order puts patients at great risk: Doctor
Following Israel’s evacuation order from parts of Khan Younis, doctors have been forced to abandon European Gaza Hospital, one of the last functioning medical facilities in the city. That has put patients and displaced Palestinians sheltering there at great risk, Jeremy Hickey, an anaesthesiologist, has told Al Jazeera.
“Moving them out is extremely difficult because access to transport is extraordinarily expensive given the lack of fuel due to access issues, but also because of the sustained and long-term nature of many patients’ injuries,” Hickey said.
“Mobilising [them] is nearly impossible and transporting these patients via ambulances is nearly impossible as well,” he added.
Wounded Palestinians lie down at Nasser Hospital
Only three patients left in Khan Younis European Hospital: WHO
Rik Peeperkorn, the World Health Organization’s representative for the occupied Palestinian territory, says the European Hospital in Khan Younis is virtually empty with staff and patients fleeing the facility after Israel’s latest evacuation order.
“The hospital staff and the patients decided to already evacuate themselves,” Peeperkorn said, adding that just three patients remained.“We plea the European Gaza hospital will be spared, will be non-damaged,” he told a UN press briefing, speaking by videolink from Jerusalem.
