Israel orders remaining residents of Beit Hanoun to leave
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Order triggers new wave of displacement and there are reports of damage to two more Gaza hospitals. Israel has issued new evacuation orders for all remaining civilians to leave Beit Hanoun in northern Gaza as part of a blistering three-month-old campaign that Israel denies is aimed at depopulating a third of the Palestinian territory, amid reports Israeli attacks have damaged two more struggling hospitals in Gaza City.
The Israeli army forcibly evacuated Kamal Adwan hospital in Beit Lahia on Friday, leaving the northern third of the strip, which is cut off from the rest of Gaza, with just one small functioning medical centre, al-Awda, in nearby Jabalia. On Sunday, everyone remaining in Beit Lahia was ordered to leave after Palestinian militants launched five rockets from the area that targeted Israeli territory.
Some patients were taken to the nearby Indonesian hospital, which is without water or electricity and is not in service. Medics were prevented by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) from joining them there, the local health ministry said. The World Health Organization said it would send an emergency mission to the Indonesian hospital on Sunday “to safely move patients to southern Gaza for continued care”.
Israel’s military said Kamal Adwan was being used as a base for Hamas operations, and that it would not allow services to resume there. The Palestinian militant group denies using medical infrastructure as cover for its activities. The IDF said it interrogated 950 people during the Friday raid on the hospital and claimed that 240 were found to be militants. Thirteen had pretended to be patients and attempted to flee on stretchers or in ambulances, it added.