Palestinian patients flee al-Shifa Hospital after Israel orders evacuation
Snapshot of Gaza City’s Remal neighbourhood
As we’ve been reporting, the Israeli military has ordered Palestinians to leave several areas in the Remal neighbourhood of Gaza City.
Once considered the beating heart of Gaza, Remal is home to Al-Shifa Hospital – the largest medical complex in the enclave – as well as UN offices, homes and shops.
Al-Shifa sits at the heart of the well-known neighbourhood.
The hospital is also near several UN compounds, including those of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), the Office of the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process and the UN Development Programme.
Gaza’s top universities – including the Islamic University of Gaza, Al-Azhar University-Gaza and Al-Aqsa University, which are just a few hundred metres apart – are also located in Remal.
A view of the remains of the National Islamic Bank in the Remal neighborhood of Gaza City in April 2024
Bodies lying on the ground in hospital corridors,’ Gaza doctor says
Mohammad Awad, an emergency doctor at northern Gaza’s Indonesian Hospital, says supply shortages mean his department can’t handle the flow of wounded patients.
“The bodies of the martyrs are lying on the ground in the hospital corridors,” Awad told the AFP news agency.
“There are not enough beds, no medicine, and no means for surgical or medical treatment, which leaves doctors unable to save many of the injured who are dying due to lack of care,” he said.
As we’ve been reporting, Israel has maintained a total blockade on Gaza since early March, barring deliveries of medicine and other critical supplies and pushing the local health network to the brink of collapse.
