Name: Patients and staff evacuate main Gaza hospital
Uploaded: 2023-11-18T12:02:40.896Z
Duration: 5 min 22 s
Description: Al-Shifa Hospital director says Israeli troops have instructed him to evacuate patients and staff – but IDF says it is securing safe passage to people who wanted to leave.

Al-Shifa Hospital director says Israeli troops have instructed him to evacuate patients and staff – but IDF says it is securing safe passage to people who wanted to leave. 

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The U.S-brokered ceasefire deal in Gaza is holding, after Hamas released the remaining Israeli hostages.

Middle East Conflict

Patients and staff evacuate main Gaza hospital

James Andre has been following the situation from Tel Aviv and we can speak to him now. Hello to you, James. The situation at al-Shifa was already dire and chaotic. What more do we know about the ordered evacuation of the hospital? Well, it's very difficult to understand exactly what happened at al-Shifa hospital this morning. As you pointed out, there were reports that the hospital staff was given one hour to evacuate the whole building by the Israeli army. Now, the Israeli army denies that. What we've been hearing is the following. A journalist inside al-Shifa, a journalist for the AFP news agency, translated what he heard over loudspeakers saying that indeed the hospital was given one hour to evacuate absolutely everyone from the compound. Now, that was also confirmed by the health ministry that is run by Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Now, the Israeli army denies that. What they say, and this is confirmed by the hospital director, is that they were asked by the hospital director a safe route, a humanitarian corridor, in order to evacuate the wounded people and the patients that need special assistance. The Israeli army says they have conceded that. But what is one sure thing is that, yes, the Israeli army is clearly requesting for al-Shifa to be completely evacuated, but not under such a short time window. That is what we're being told. And, of course, the operation inside the hospital by Israeli soldiers is ongoing. For now, they are still trying to find evidence of the presence of this Hamas command center they have been saying existed under hospital and that, according to them, justifies this attack. But, for now, they say they have found some documents. They found and showed the press some light weapons and explosives, but small quantities of them, and then documents. That's as much proof as they have managed to present to the international community for now. Meanwhile, James, in Han Yunis, the largest city in Southern Gaza, what can you tell us about the situation there? Now, Han Yunis was bombarded this morning by — was struck by an Israeli plane, a strike that killed 26 people, according to the director of a local hospital and authorities in the Gaza Strip run by Hamas. For now, what we hear is that, yes, it appears that this military operation is moving into a third phase. Now, Mark Regev, who is one of the senior advisers to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, was on American media saying that, indeed, it was time for the Palestinians to evacuate Han Yunis. Now, Han Yunis, according to the Israeli army, is a very important part of the Gaza Strip. It is one of the historic strongholds of Hamas inside the enclave. And, indeed, it is quite clear that it appears a new operation is starting there, while the rest of the operations are carrying on in the northern part of Gaza. Now, the problem is, for now, the Israeli army had asked Gaza residents from the north to evacuate towards the south to be safe. Now, Han Yunis is in the southern Gaza Strip, to the southeast, to be exact. And that means there is a new population displacement from the east-southern Gaza Strip to the west, begging one question, where will these people go, given it is already very cramped? The humanitarian situation in southern Gaza is catastrophic, with, we have been told, water evacuation systems overflowing, lack of drinkable clean water, lack of food. Shops are now running out of food, humanitarian agencies as well. So, it is a dire, dire situation in this part of the Gaza Strip. And, James, what can you tell us about the two-day communications blackout ending in Gaza? Now, this two-day communication blackout is coming to an end simply because the Israelis have accepted, pressed by the American government, to let 10,000 litres of fuel enter the Gaza Strip for this specific need, that is restoring some power in telecommunications to, obviously, this population that was with no news, no information, no Internet, which obviously makes things even tougher on them. Now, 10,000 litres is as much as has been authorised. That is really very little compared to the needs of the entire Gaza Strip. I mean, one expert on Israeli television today was saying that the Gaza Strip needed 1.1 million litres of fuel per day. But it is already that. And then, in a separate development, the U.N. has been requesting from the Israelis' authorisation to take fuel inside the Gaza Strip to carry on with humanitarian operations. Well, the Israelis have accepted to let 60,000 litres of fuel enter the Gaza Strip for the U.N. Now, the Israeli army and the Israeli government, their objective is to make sure the fuel isn't diverted and used for military operations by Hamas. This is why they're only letting a very small quantity enter and really checking who actually gets that fuel. But, yes, from now on, they've announced it would be 10,000 litres per day, which should be enough for at least some telecommunications.

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