Gaza's hospitals received several evacuation orders: UN spox
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Several hospitals in the enclave were subjected to bombings and subsequent evacuations over the weekend.
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A Palestinian girl wounded in an Israeli strike on the Gaza Strip waits for treatment in a hospital in Rafah on Monday, Oct. 30, 2023 (AP Photo/Hatem Ali)
UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric reported on Monday that numerous evacuation orders have been issued in recent days to the operational hospitals in Northern Gaza.
"All 13 hospitals still operational in Northern Gaza have received repeated evacuation orders in recent days," Dujarric told reporters.
He pointed out that a number of hospitals were subjected to bombings and subsequent evacuations over the weekend.
"Hospitals need to be protected. Hospitals can not be used for combat, and those people who are inside need to be safe," he added.
Read more: UN warns of 'thousands more' to be killed in Gaza
Dujarric noted that, since the onset of the conflict, over 1.4 million civilians have been forced to flee their residences.
"This includes more than 670,000 people who are sheltering in 150 shelters run by UNRWA [UN Relief and Works Agency]," he added.
UNRWA operations in jeopardy
The Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, Philippe Lazzarini, stated on Monday that a deteriorating civil order in Gaza would render the agency's operations impossible.
"A further breakdown in civil order will make it extremely difficult, if not impossible, for the largest UN Agency in Gaza to continue operating. It will also make it impossible to bring in convoys," Lazzarini told members of the Security Council.
A communication blackout has been observed in the Palestinian enclave since Friday night, coinciding with the IOF's announcement of an expansion in ground operations in Gaza.
This disruption in communication has had a detrimental impact on emergency services and has severed contact with UN personnel engaged in delivering humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip.
Read more: 40 Aid trucks to arrive in Gaza, more needed: WFP
Since the Israelis imposed a blockade on Gaza, the Rafah gate, which is administered by Egypt but does not border the Israeli-occupied part of Palestine, has become the major point of humanitarian distribution.
Before the fighting, roughly 500 trucks per day crossed into Gaza, but in recent days, just 12 lorries per day have entered, according to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.
According to a border source, that journey caused a 16-hour delay and is the reason why the number of trucks never again reached the high of 20 trucks on the first day deliveries resumed.
On October 24, UN agencies pleaded "on their knees" for unhindered access to Gaza, saying that current supplies were insufficient to maintain the Palestinian people following two weeks of Israeli air attacks.
Since "Israel" imposed a total siege on the Strip, relentlessly bombarding it, UN organizations have made more urgent calls for help.
Read more: Gaza faces imminent blood bag shortage amid ongoing Israeli aggression
On Sunday, the Palestinian Red Crescent Society said on Sunday that it received strongly worded threats from IOF to "immediately evacuate" the Al-Quds Hospital in the Gaza Strip "because it would be bombed."
On the same day, the Palestinian Interior Ministry said in a statement that "Israel" has hit the vicinity of Al-Quds Hospital in Gaza, which is filled with patients and thousands of Palestinians who are currently taking shelter.
