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The World Health Organization is “extremely disturbed” by reports of Israeli attacks near Gaza City’s Al-Shifa Hospital, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus wrote in a statement early Saturday.
“Many health workers we were in contact with have been forced to leave the hospital in search of safety,” Ghebreyesus said on X (formerly as Twitter), adding that “Many of the thousands sheltering at the hospital are forced to evacuate due to security risks, while many still remain there.”
A doctor inside Al-Shifa Hospital posted a video on Instagram late Friday describing what he’s been hearing and seeing amid “heavy bombing” in the vicinity.
“The occupation now is heavily bombing the vicinity and the yards of Al-Shifa Hospital,” the doctor identified as Ezz Lulu said in a translation of the video. “The hospital is overcrowded with the injured and there’s not even space for medical treatment.”
Video posted late Friday by the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Ramallah also shows heavy smoke rising from behind the Al-Shifa Hospital and flares in the sky with frequent explosions being heard.
The Israeli military has claimed that a “misfired projectile launched by terrorist organizations inside the Gaza Strip”was responsible for a strike on Al-Shifa Hospital.
In another video posted early Saturday local time, the health ministry reported heavy bombardment near the Indonesian Hospital in northern Gaza. The video shows two men in medical scrubs running into a building for cover as heavy bombing can be seen and heard near the hospital.
The Hamas-controlled Ministry of Interior in Gaza said the Israeli military struck near the Indonesian Hospital late Friday.
Earlier in the day, the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) said an Israeli military attack targeted the Al-Quds Hospital, killing one displaced person and injuring 28 others, including two in critical condition.
Most of the casualties were children, PRCS added.
“PRCS expresses profound concern for the safety of its medical teams operating in the hospital, especially given the ongoing interruption of internet and communication services for the third consecutive day,” the statement read.
The WHO said it has verified more than 250 attacks on the health sector in Gaza and the West Bank since October 7, including five hospital attacks in the strip on one day last week.
“We appeal for a humanitarian ceasefire now,” the WHO said.
CNN reached out to the Israeli military for comment and has not immediately heard back. The Israeli military has previously maintained that it is targeting Hamas infrastructure across the strip.
Some context: This comes as Israeli tanks have surrounded the Al Nasr hospital and Al Rantisi Pediatric hospital in northern Gaza, its director Mustafa al-Kahlout told CNN, heightening fears Friday that Israel’s military campaign is further endangering Gazan patients and medical staff.
Patients and babies in the intensive units of Gaza City’s Al-Quds Hospital could die as it faces shut down in coming hours due to lack of fuel supplies, PRCS has also warned.
So far, at least 18 out of Gaza’s 35 functioning hospitals have gone out of service, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Ramallah on Thursday.
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