UN: "Another Hospital Bombing Incident in Northern Gaza... Ambulance Operations Suspended"

The United Nations reported on the 8th (local time) that shelling damage occurred again at a hospital in the northern area of the Gaza Strip, where only a very few were open, amid renewed clashes between Israel and the Palestinian armed group Hamas.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) announced that the Al-Awda Hospital in Jabalia, northern Gaza, was shelled by the Israeli military the previous day. OCHA also received reports that the hospital was deliberately targeted with aimed fire to hit specific individuals or facilities.

Al-Awda Hospital was one of the two hospitals in northern Gaza that had been operating on a limited basis and receiving patients until the previous day.

The Israeli military suspects that hospitals in northern Gaza are linked to Hamas military organizations and has conducted multiple military operations against hospital facilities.

The largest hospital in the Gaza Strip, Al-Shifa Hospital in the north, as well as the Indonesia Hospital, were closed last month after being shelled or following Israeli military incursions.

OCHA explained, "Since the outbreak of hostilities on the 7th of last month, there have been a total of 212 attacks on 56 medical facilities, including hospitals and health centers, and 59 ambulances within the Gaza Strip."

Smoke rises over the Gaza Strip after an Israeli airstrike.
[Photo by EPA Yonhap News]

The shelled Al-Awda Hospital is reported to be no longer operational.

However, OCHA reported that there are almost no hospitals to transfer patients to in northern Gaza, and fuel shortages have even halted ambulance operations.

The medical teams that were transporting patients by ambulance and providing emergency treatment are no longer able to transfer patients but continue to search for and treat the injured.

OCHA added, "While it has become impossible to transport the injured in northern Gaza, emergency medical teams are still treating about 250 injured and critically ill patients daily in Jabalia."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.