Sisters Hind and Heba Ahuani were treated on Sunday at the Baptist Hospital in Arab and Israel, when Israel ordered everyone from the building to evacuate midnight, before heading to the hospital.
« Suddenly, (he felt like) everyone was left out and left us behind, » Hind, 9, said, whose left leg had been amputated in an earlier air attack that also left his sister critical injured. « We ended up running on the street. We were scared. »
Heba said that once they went out, they didn’t know where to go.
« We were praying on the streets, we could barely walk or do anything with our legs injured, » said Heba. « It was a very difficult situation, very scary. »
The Baptist Hospital Arab al-Ahli, the last major hospital to offer critical care in northern Gaza, has been forced to close after Israeli fugitives severely damage its emergency department. The strike is one of the latest hits of the devastated Gaza Health Infrastructure and is produced as international humanitarian organizations that hospital supplies are without any help in the territory for more than seven weeks.
Hind and Heba Aunt, Afaf al-Haurani, told as soon as they were evacuated, they took mattresses and tried to remove the injured patients from the building.
« The girls shouted on the streets … Hind was shouting, because he was pain, so we put her on her sister’s mattress and we threw them out on the street, » said Al-Haurani.
« We were calling others to help us throw them through the ruins of the streets. »
Hind, an amputate and his sister Heba Aluani were among hundreds of patients injured to evacuate the Baptist Hospital of Arraba al-Ahli during the night Sunday after Israel warned that he would hit the building. Israel claimed that he had a Hamas Control and Control Center, without providing tests. Hamas denies the allegation.
Hospital closure means less urgent care available
Aluanani said that other people helped them arrive at the Red Crescent Camp Hospital, about 600 meters from the Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza, about a kilometer away, where they were able to receive treatment.
Israel said that it aimed at a Hamas Control and Command Center at Al-Ahli Hospital, without providing evidence, a complaint that he has used on the past strikes in Gaza hospitals. Hamas has denied allegations.
The Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem, which runs the hospital, said that the evacuation warning reached 20 minutes before the air attack. On Sunday, he asked the international community to intervene to « stop all kinds of attacks on medical and humanitarian institutions ».
The Gaza Ministry of Health said that a patient, a girl, died during the evacuation because staff could not provide urgent care.
Fadl Naeem, director of the Al-Ahli Hospital, said that his emergency service was about 300 people each day. Naeem said that the hospital laboratory departments and the x -rays also closed after the attack.
He told CBC News on Monday that there are plans to re -build, that it could take weeks or months, but no new humanitarian supply has entered the Palestinian enclave since Israel blocked the entry of help trucks on March 2, as the conversations stopped at the next stage of a truce now broken between Israel and Hamas.
Medical supplies run critically low
AFAF al-Hourani said that the conditions of his nieces worsened due to a lack of medicine in Gaza. Hind and Heba were injured by an Israeli air attack in the city of Gaza that killed his brother earlier this month.
« If the crossings were open and (Israel) would allow medicine to be left for the injured, they would have no pain, » said Al-Haurani.
An Israeli aerial strike has destroyed part of Arab al-Ahli Hospital, the last totally functional hospital in the city of Gaza. Witnesses said that the strike destroyed the hospital’s intensive care department.
On Friday, the President of the Red Cross, Mirjana Spoljaric, told Reuters that the medical supplies to the enclave are going down.
« We are now in a situation that I have to describe how hell on earth … people do not have access to water, electricity, food, in many parts, » said Spoljaric, warning that his field hospital is expected to run out of two weeks.
Dr. Hassan al-Shaer, medical director of the Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, said that the installation received about 50 patients who evacuated al-Ahli Sunday.
« We have a limited number of beds here and a limited number of services, » Al-Shaer told CBC News on Tuesday. « It was very difficult to receive them. »
The hospital, which at one point was the largest medical complex in Gaza and Central Hospital, has less than 100 beds available to patients, up to 700 beds before the 18 -month war.
None of the « deeply alarmed » United Nations on the hospital strike
A spokesman for the Secretary General of the United Nations, António Guterres, said he is « deeply alarmed » on Sunday strike by Israeli forces at Al-Ahli Hospital.
« Under international humanitarian law, injured and sick, medical staff and medical facilities, including hospitals, they must be respected and protected, » said United Nations spokesman.
He said that the attack treated « a strong blow to a health system already devastated in the Strip (Gaza) ».
The Israeli army has hit and attacked hospitals on several occasions during the 18-month war, accusing Hamas militants of hiding or using them for military purposes. Hospital staff have denied allegations and accused Israel of imprudently jeopardizing civilians and destroying their care infrastructure.
On Tuesday, an Israeli air attack struck the north door of Kuwaiti Field Hospital in the Muwasi area, killing a drug and hurting nine more people.
The injured were all patients and doctors, and two of the patients were critical after the strike, said Saber Mohammed, a hospital spokesman.
There was no immediate comment from the Israeli army.
According to Palestinian officials, more than 51,000 Palestinians have been killed in the Israeli offensive in Gaza. It includes more than 1,600 people killed since Israel finished the fire and resumed his offensive last month to pressure Hamas to accept changes to the agreement.
The Gaza Ministry of Health does not say how many civilians or fighters, but he says that women and children are more than half the dead.
Israel began its assault after thousands of Hamas -led gunmen attacked southern Israel communities on October 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people and seized 251 as hostages, according to the Israelis. Fifty-nine hostages are still inside Gaza, 24 of which are thought to be alive.
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