Palestinian Red Crescent calls for safe passage from Gaza hospital

By Mustafa Haboush

GAZA CITY, Palestine (AA) – The Palestinian Red Crescent Society called Monday for providing a safe humanitarian passage for medics and patients at Al-Amal Hospital in Khan Younis city in the southern Gaza Strip.

Israeli forces raided the hospital on Sunday as part of its ongoing offensive on the Gaza Strip.

The organization said Israeli troops forced the medical staff and wounded Palestinians to evacuate the hospital Sunday night.

"While attempting to leave through the military checkpoint, the teams encountered difficulty moving due to extensive excavation and infrastructure destruction," it said.

Two people were injured when Israeli forces opened fire on the medical staff and the wounded while trying to clear the rubble on the road, the aid organization said.

One person was rescued, while the fate of the second remains unclear.

The organization said the medical team was forced by the Israeli troops to return to the hospital, where they found its gate closed, making it impossible for them to enter.

“The team remained waiting on the street until now,” it added.

Israel has waged a deadly military offensive on the Palestinian territory since a cross-border attack by the Palestinian group Hamas in which some 1,200 Israelis were killed.

More than 32,333 Palestinians have since been killed and over 74,694 injured amid mass destruction and shortages of necessities.

The Israeli war, now in its 171st day, has pushed 85% of Gaza’s population into internal displacement amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicine, while 60% of the enclave's infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.

Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice. An interim ruling in January ordered Tel Aviv to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.

*Writing by Mohammad Sio in Istanbul