GAZA (Palestine Foundation Information Center) Marwan Al-Hams, the head of the emergency committee in the Ministry of Health in Gaza, said on Sunday that contact with Al-Awda Hospital, one of the largest hospitals in the northern Gaza Strip, is almost lost, expressing his concern for the lives of the medical staff and patients inside.
Al-Hams explained in television statements that the Israeli occupation army continues its approach of disabling the healthcare system, pointing to the deliberate disruption of Al-Awda Hospital, which serves the areas of Jabalia, Beit Lahia, and Beit Hanoun.
According to Al-Hams, the Israeli occupation army shelled the vicinity of Al-Awda Hospital, and its shells reached inside the hospital.
He confirmed that people are prohibited from entering or leaving the hospital amid the besieging of medical teams.
Al-Hams said, “Medical teams are suffocated; there is no electricity, and fuel cannot reach them because they are now considered (tapped) in a combat zone.”
He noted that “medical supplies and medical equipment cannot reach the hospital”, describing the situation there as a result as “catastrophic”.
He warned of the arrest, killing, and displacement of medical teams.
Al-Hams pointed out that “the only hospital remaining in the north is Kamal Adwan Hospital, which is a small hospital barely providing service.”
Israeli occupation forces besieged Al-Awda Hospital in Jabalia, northern Gaza Strip, on Sunday, coinciding with the escalation of intense shelling in various parts of the Gaza Strip.
Media sources said that the Israeli artillery shelled the hospital with several shells before besieging it, preventing citizens and medical staff from entering or leaving, which made it difficult to provide medical services to the injured and patients.
Since the start of the Israeli aggression on October 7, 2023, the occupation army has deliberately disrupted the healthcare system in the Gaza Strip, targeting hospitals, including Al-Awda Hospital in the north, through threats of closure and shelling.
Al-Awda Hospital is the only hospital that provides orthopedic, women’s and maternity services in the northern Gaza Strip, in addition to general surgery, reception and emergency services, specialized clinics, radiology, and laboratories.
On May 11, the Israeli occupation army launched a wide-scale attack on Jabalia city and its camp in the northern Gaza Strip after asking residents to evacuate the area and head west of the city.
The Israeli occupation army continues its brutal aggression on the Gaza Strip for the 226th consecutive day, coinciding with the continued aerial and artillery bombardment of the homes of civilians and displaced people in various parts of the Strip, committing, in the process, new massacres against civilians.
