GAZA CITY – The Israeli occupation army today forced, via loudspeakers, those present in Al-Shifa Medical Complex, west of Gaza City, including patients, injured people, displaced persons, and medical staff, to evacuate it through one exit and to head on foot towards al-Wahda Street and from there to Salah El-Din Street, and then to the south, according to the Palestinian WAFA news agency.
Medical sources in Gaza reported that 150 critically ill patients stayed in the hospital due to the difficulty of getting them out along with five doctors to care for them until they get evacuated.
Many doctors described the evacuation process as difficult. They were forced to raise white flags and walk difficult and destroyed roads, pushing patients on wheelchairs and sickbeds, and helping the wounded to walk the destroyed roads.
The occupation forces besieged Al-Shifa Medical Complex for nine days, destroyed its medical equipment, and caused the death of wounded people and a number of premature babies.
Several buildings were bombed and destroyed including the cardiac building on the western side of the complex.
Al-Shifa Medical Complex is affiliated with the Palestinian Ministry of Health. It is the largest medical center in the Gaza Strip. It was established in 1946 during the British Mandate and started as small kiosks providing medical care to patients. It developed over time and became the largest medical complex in the Gaza Strip where 25% of the entire hospital workers in the Gaza Strip work.
Al-Shifa complex includes three specialized hospitals: Surgery, Internal Medicine, and Obstetrics and Gynecology, with a nursery for premature babies, in addition to the emergency department, intensive care unit, radiology, blood bank, and contains 500-700 beds.
