On Sunday, the Israeli army continued the bombing and shelling of various parts of the Gaza Strip, including entire residential blocs, killing and wounding dozens of Palestinians.
The Israeli army also surrounded and completely isolated the Al-Awda Hospital, in Jabalia in northern Gaza, preventing the Palestinians, including the medics and ambulances, from entering or leaving it.
Medical sources said the army fired many shells at the hospital before surrounding it and bulldozed all the areas around it.
The hospital is the only medical center that provided essential orthopedic and maternity services and surgeries, in addition to specialized clinics, X-rays, and other services such as laboratories, and X-Ray, and started facing numerous challenges when the army intensified its invasions and bombings on Jabalia, the Jabalia refugee camp and other areas in northern Gaza, on May 11.
Since the beginning of the Israeli onslaught on Gaza, Al-Awda Hospital has witnessed repeated Israeli violations, including bombings and destruction of surgery wards and other branches, in addition to the destruction of its solar panels, water and fuel reservoirs, and its warehouses where various sorts of medical supplies, anesthesia supplies, and ambulances are located.
On November 21, 2023, the army fired shells at the hospital, killing three doctors, and forcing the medical facility to shut down about %50 of its branches, in addition to abducting twelve workers and volunteers, including the head of the hospital, Dr, Ahmad Mhanna and three medical staff.
The Israeli army is deliberately destroying more schools and health facilities in #Gaza, insisting on the complete destruction of all aspects and foundations of life, as part of the genocide targeting Palestinians in the strip. pic.twitter.com/p4fegkIzB7
— Euro-Med Monitor (@EuroMedHR) May 19, 2024
On his part, World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that after Israel occupied and shut down the Rafah Border Terminal on May 6, the entry of essential medical supplies and fuel for the generators became very limited.
|World Health Organization: Medicine and Food Running Out in Gaza|
Dr. Ghebreyesus added that the latest Israeli evacuation orders and the intensified bombings, in addition to the lack of medical supplies, are inflicting more suffering on the people.
He also expressed concerns regarding “the renewed hostilities” around Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza, which has already resulted in a significant increase in casualties.
🧵1/6 Israel’s closure of Rafah Crossing in Gaza made it impossible for over 11,000 wounded people to get the urgent medical care they need outside the Strip, while over 10,000 cancer patients & 2,000 patients with other diseases—incl 750 children—require treatment abroad pic.twitter.com/LCuumsVSCM
— Euro-Med Monitor (@EuroMedHR) May 19, 2024
Israel has now killed more than 35.456, and injured at least 79.476, mostly women and children, in addition to the thousands who remain under the rubble, in various parts of the Gaza Strip, since October 7, 2023.
Due to ongoing bombings, massive destruction of infrastructure homes, and buildings, mass graves and the isolation of many areas in the Gaza Strip, it is exceedingly difficult to know the exact number of deaths and injuries, which can only be fully determined after the ongoing onslaught ends.
