UN health body reports panic at northern Gaza hospital

Fears of an imminent attack as well as heavy shelling in the region have caused panic at Kamal Adwan Hospital in the northern Gaza Strip, according to the UN’s World Health Organization (WHO).

Although there was no official evacuation order from the Israeli army, reports of an imminent attack spread overnight, said Rik Peeperkorn, WHO representative for the territories occupied by Israel.

He spoke to journalists in Geneva via video link from Gaza. People climbed walls to escape and deaths were reported, he said.

Residents told DPA that dozens of Israeli soldiers broke into the hospital. According to their statements and media reports, staff and patients were forced to leave the facility and dozens of arrests took place.

The WHO was only able to send an emergency team to the hospital a few days ago, after weeks of failed attempts, including two Indonesian surgeons, Peeperkorn said.

They fled to safety this morning along with a large number of other people who wanted to flee the building.

According to Peeperkorn, around 12,000 injured and sick people in Gaza are waiting to be urgently evacuated because they cannot be treated there.

Before the fighting began more than a year ago, 50 patients left the Gaza Strip for treatment every day. Since May, only about 380 people have been evacuated, mainly to the United Arab Emirates, he said.

These include both people seriously injured by Israeli bombings and cancer patients.

Peeperkorn called for safe routes to be established for the evacuation of people in urgent need of aid abroad.