The Israeli army withdrew from Al-Chifa hospital in Gaza on Friday, on the first day of a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, which is in power in the Palestinian territory, the Islamist movement’s health ministry reported.
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The army contacted by AFP did not immediately comment.
According to the UN, there were 2,300 patients, wounded, nursing staff and displaced people there on the first day of Israeli raids on the hospital. During the evacuations, “around 100 patients and carers were still in al-Chifa,” reported Christian Lindmeier, spokesman for the World Health Organization (WHO).
They are now in a facility “whose main generator as well as numerous buildings, squares and walls were destroyed,” according to Hamas health ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qidreh.
“We are working on further hospital evacuations,” Mr. Lindmeier added, while Israeli operations in recent days have focused on another hospital in northern Gaza, the Indonesian hospital.
The latest convoy left al-Chifa with “73 seriously ill and injured people, 18 dialysis patients, 26 hemi- or paraplegic patients, eight chronically ill patients, two in urgent need of care and 19 patients in wheelchairs,” the convoy said.
On Thursday, the Israeli army, which accuses Hamas of using hospitals in Gaza for military purposes – something it denies – arrested the facility’s director, Doctor Mohammed Abou Salmiya.
The Israeli army announced that it had found a tunnel under al-Chifa that was “used for terrorism.” It also released video surveillance images that its spokesman said proved that hostages were being held there. Hamas responded that they had been taken there for treatment.
According to Ashraf al-Qidreh, it was the Indonesian hospital that was “violently bombed” on Thursday evening.
A ceasefire in the Gaza Strip began at 7:00 a.m. local time (05:00 GMT) on Friday and was expected to last four days. Hamas and other armed groups in the area must release 13 women and children hostage later today, while Israel must release three times as many Palestinian prisoners, women and children, held in Israel.
