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A hospital in northern Gaza was forcibly evacuated by the Israeli army, medics said, after dozens of people were killed in Israeli airstrikes targeting the area around the medical facility.
Eid Sabbah, head of the nursing department at Kamal Adwan Hospital, told the BBC that at around 07:00 on Friday, the military gave the authorities 15 minutes to evacuate patients and staff from its premises.
Israeli soldiers entered the hospital and are now evacuating the remaining patients, Dr Sabbah said.
The Israeli army said it was “not aware” of any attacks in the area and was looking into reports of medics being killed.
“It is dangerous because in the ICU department there are patients who are unconscious and need ventilators and moving them would put them at risk,” said Dr Sabbah.
“If the military wants to continue evacuating these patients, they will need special vehicles.”
So far no injuries have been reported during the evacuation.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) did not comment on the transfer, but earlier in the week, an Israeli government official said they wanted to transfer those in the Kamal Adwan hospital to a nearby Indonesian hospital that was evacuated by the Israeli army on Tuesday. .
It comes after hospital director Kamal Adwan said at least 50 people had been killed, including five medical workers, in the crossfire of Israeli warplanes that targeted the hospital.
A statement from Dr Hussam Abu Safiya said that the building opposite the hospital was targeted by Israeli warplanes, which resulted in the death of a pediatrician and a lab technician, as well as their families.
He said a third maintenance worker was shot and killed when he ran to the first strike.
Two of the hospital’s assistants were 500m (1,640ft) away from the hospital when they were shot and killed by another stroke, the statement continued, their bodies left in the street with no one to reach them.
On Friday morning, the Israeli army said it was “not aware of the attack on the Kamal Adwan hospital” and was investigating reports that staff had been killed.
The Kamal Adwan hospital in Beit Lahia has been under siege by Israel in parts of northern Gaza since October, when the military said it had launched an operation to prevent Hamas from regrouping there.
The UN says the area is “virtually surrounded” because the Israeli army is blocking access to aid in an area where about 10,000 to 15,000 people remain.
In recent days, the hospital’s management has issued a desperate plea for protection, as it says the facility often comes under fire from Israeli shells and explosives.
Oxfam said efforts by aid agencies to deliver supplies to the area since October had been unsuccessful due to “deliberate delays and systematic obstruction” by the Israeli army.
