Doctors say they were ordered to evacuate Al-Shifa hospital by the Israeli military, IDF disputes the claim - CNN

Several doctors from Gaza’s Al-Shifa hospital told Al Jazeera on Saturday morning they had left the medical facility after the Israeli military ordered them to evacuate. The Israeli military disputes issuing such an order.

Dr. Munir Al-Bursh said the order had come from a phone call to the hospital director, instructing him to evacuate the entire hospital, with those leaving told to wave white flags or white handkerchiefs.

"This was a very humiliating scene,” he said in a live phone interview to the TV channel.

The Israeli army has insisted it did not order people to leave.

"At no point, did the IDF order the evacuation of patients or medical teams,” the statement said, adding, “medical personnel will remain in the hospital to support patients who are unable to evacuate.” Dr. Bursh told Al Jazeera that 120 patients remained inside the hospital, along with five doctors to coordinate the remaining evacuations.

What’s happening at Al-Shifa: Israel launched a “targeted” operation against Hamas early Wednesday morning inside Gaza’s largest hospital, where thousands of displaced Palestinians had been sheltering alongside patients and medical staff.

Israel claims Hamas is using the hospital complex for military purposes and has built a command center under the facility – allegations repeatedly rejected by both Hamas and hospital officials. CNN has not verified the claims of either Israel or Hamas.

The intervening days have seen the hospital turn from civilian sanctuary to battlefield with heavy fighting taking place in and around the complex, amid an already rapidly deteriorating humanitarian situation.

Israel is facing mounting international pressure to prove its claims about Hamas’ infiltration of the hospital, in order to justify some of its military decisions, which could otherwise constitute a possible serious violation of international humanitarian law.

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    1 year ago

    Al Jazeera

    18m ago (10:45 GMT)

    What happened at al-Shifa Hospital?

    Al Jazeera has gathered a number of voices from inside Gaza to piece together what happened this morning at the al-Shifa Hospital. Here are the main takeaways:

    • The emergency room supervisor Omar Zaqout has told Al Jazeera that the Israeli army ordered everyone at al-Shifa Hospital – including doctors, patients and displaced people – to evacuate the medical compound in one hour through the al-Wehda road.

    • The Israeli army has denied it ordered the evacuation, claiming instead that it responded to a request by the hospital’s director to let those wishing to leave to take a secure route out. It added that it notified medics in the hospital that they were ready to facilitate the transfer of patients.

    • The Israeli claims were refuted by Mohammed Zaqout, director of Gaza hospitals, who insisted patients were forced to leave at gunpoint. Munir al-Barsh, director-general of Gaza’s Health Ministry and Adnan al-Barsh, head of orthopaedics at the hospital, provided the same account.

    • Evacuees were ordered at 9am [7:00 GMT] to leave while waving a white handkerchief and walk in a single-file line, the health official said.

    • About 450 patients were evacuated, while about 120 patients were left behind with five doctors, including the director and a few nurses, because they were immobile, al-Barsh said.

    • Zaqout said that a list of critical patients has been handed to the Red Cross to be taken to Egypt for treatment, but that he is still awaiting updates on the issue.

    • Al-Barsh, the doctor, added that Israeli snipers are inside and around the hospital complex.

    • Ismail al-Thawabta, the director general of the government media office in Gaza, says a number of patients forced to evacuate al-Shifa Hospital were in such critical condition that they may not survive the journey to another medical facility.

    • Several accounts describe family members pushing rolling hospital beds and wheelchairs, others were walking on crunches as they try to make it further south.