Patients are ‘trapped’ in northern Gaza hospitals as IDF operations continue: MSF

(TEL AVIV, Israel and GAZA STRIP) — Patients are “trapped” inside the last three operational hospitals in northern Gaza as Israeli forces continue to besiege the area, medical staff and international aid organizations warn.

As of Saturday, more than 350 patients are reported to be “trapped” inside Al-Awda Hospital, Indonesian Hospital and Kamal Adwan Hospital, including pregnant women and people who have just undergone surgical operations, according to Médecins Sans Frontières, or Doctors Without Borders (MSF).

The Israel Defense Forces issued evacuation orders for northern Gaza on Oct. 6, its spokesman Avichay Adraee posted on X, writing at the time: “I remind you that the northern Gaza Strip area is still considered a dangerous combat zone.”

The IDF again ordered evacuations last week of several neighborhoods in the northern Gaza Strip, including Beit Hanoun, Jabalia and Beit Lahia, as it tracks down Hamas fighters it believes to be in the area.

It’s estimated there are between 200,000 and 400,000 people who live in the north in an area that’s now a military zone.

The hospitals are within areas that have been ordered to evacuate, although the IDF will not confirm if the hospitals were ordered to evacuate. Israel has said Hamas terrorists are using civilians as shields and hospitals as cover-ups for their operations.

“While the northern part of the Strip has been under siege for over two weeks, it is absolutely crucial to ensure the protection of the few remaining functional health care facilities,” Anna Halford, emergency coordinator in Gaza for MSF, said Sunday in a statement. “People must be able to continue to access medical care and lifesaving treatments. We call on the Israeli forces to immediately stop their attacks on hospitals in north Gaza.”

In a statement posted Monday morning on X, the IDF spokesperson for the Arab media said Israeli officials continue “to communicate with the international community and the health establishment to maintain the operation of emergency systems in hospitals by transferring medical equipment and a fuel stockpile based on the operational situation.”

The spokesperson also said officials are working to evacuate patients and their companions, as well as medical staff, from hospitals. The IDF did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment about patients being trapped.

Staff members at Indonesian Hospital say they’re without power and have been unable to properly care for patients.

“The water supply has been cut off for patients and staff at the Indonesian Hospital,” Hadeel Obeid, chief nurse at the hospital, said in a message to ABC News on Monday. “They need permission from the [IDF] to operate the electric generator, and there is no food due to the ongoing siege for the fourth consecutive day.”

“We urge all international organizations to take the necessary action to save these wounded individuals and the staff working inside the hospital to support their resilience and steadfastness,” Obeid added.

Medical staff at Kamal Adwan Hospital similarly said there is no food to properly feed families, nor are there safe places to stay.

“There is no milk for children, and mothers [instead] have to mix starch and flour with water and sugar,” Dr. Eid Al Sabah, director of nursing at the hospital, said in a message to ABC News on Monday. “We stay in houses that have previously been bombed. We use tent cloth and wood from furniture [for fires] due to wood and fuel cuts.”

The IDF said Monday in a post on X that it has allowed hundreds of people to safely evacuate the Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip via an organized route while arresting dozens of suspects in the area.

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) also issued a dire warning about attacks on hospitals and overcrowded conditions in northern Gaza.

In a post Monday on X, the organization said patients in ICUs have died after electricity cuts, and that Kamal Adwan and Al-Awda hospitals are operating at minimum capacity due to a shortage of medical supplies and staff.

“The Israeli authorities continue to deny humanitarian missions to reach the north with critical supplies, including medicine and food for people under siege,” Philippe Lazzarini, UNRWA commissioner-general, said Monday in a post on X. “Hospitals have been hit and are left without power while injured people are left without care.”

“Denying & weaponizing humanitarian assistance to achieve military purposes is a sign of how low the moral compass is,” he continued. “Assistance must reach everyone in need in Gaza: civilians, including children and the hostages. No one should beg to assist or to be assisted. A cease-fire is the beginning to putting an end to this endless nightmare.”

Additionally, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) issued a report over the weekend that no aid was allowed into northern Gaza between Oct. 1 and Oct. 14. Since then, only a “token amount” of aid has been allowed in, the group said.

In its report, OHCHR also expressed concern over dwindling amounts of food supplies. Israeli officials have denied that aid is struggling to enter Gaza and have posted photos and videos on social media of trucks with aid waiting to be picked up and distributed at border crossings by nongovernmental and aid organizations.

ABC News’ Guy Davies and Jordana Miller contributed to this report.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.