by Nidal al-Mughrabi
CAIRO (Reuters) – Israeli forces, leading an offensive near Gaza’s main hospital, Al Chifa, on Sunday besieged two other hospitals in the Palestinian enclave and ordered the evacuation of one of them. them, said the Palestinian Red Crescent.
Israel says hospitals in the Gaza Strip, where war has raged for more than five months, have often been used as strongholds by Hamas militants, something the Palestinian movement and medical staff deny.
The Palestinian Red Crescent said one of its staff members was killed when Israeli tanks deployed in areas surrounding Al-Amal and Nasser hospitals, located in the town of Khan Yunis, south of the enclave. .
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The Israeli army blocked all access to Al-Amal hospital and carried out extensive earthmoving operations in its surroundings, the Red Crescent said in a statement, specifying that its teams had been taken under fire.
He indicated later in the day that most of the healthcare staff, patients able to travel and displaced people who had taken refuge in the establishment had been forced to evacuate the hospital on orders from Israel. , and reach the town of Al Mawassi on the Mediterranean coast.
Residents of Khan Younes reported an advance of Israeli tanks in a western district of the city, near the Nasser hospital.
For its part, the Israeli army indicated that its forces were hitting “infrastructures” in Khan Younes serving as assembly points for Palestinian fighters.
Further north, in Gaza City, Israel claims to have captured 480 fighters during fighting around Al Chifa hospital. The latter is today one of the few health establishments still partially operational in the north of the territory.
Since the start of Israel’s offensive in the Gaza Strip, in retaliation for the deadly Hamas attack on October 7 in the south of the Jewish state, at least 32,226 Palestinians have been killed and 74,518 injured, according to the updated report on Sunday from the Gaza authorities.
Hamas’ attack on Israel left 1,200 dead and 253 people taken hostage, some of whom were released during a short truce in November.
Ongoing negotiations on a ceasefire and the release of the remaining hostages, led jointly by Qatar and Egypt, have so far failed to reach an agreement.
(Reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi and Emily Rose; Blandine Hénault and Tangi Salaün for the French version)
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