Israel names new window of opportunity to flee to southern Gaza

2023-11-12 09:54:48

In addition, a passage is to be created between the largest clinic in Gaza, the Shifa Hospital, and a connecting road to the south, as the army announced on X (formerly Twitter) on Sunday. The escape corridor is open between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. local time (8 a.m. to 3 p.m. CET).

The Israeli army accuses Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip, of using the Shifa hospital as a command and control center. The military also announced a “tactical pause” in fighting for “humanitarian purposes” in two areas in the north. According to the information, this should enable evacuation to the south.

Israel has been calling on civilians in Gaza city and the north for weeks to move to the south of the coastal strip for their own safety. But according to eyewitnesses, there have also been several Israeli air strikes in the southern part of the Gaza Strip. According to the army, these were exclusively targeted attacks on members of the terrorist organization Hamas. The information could not currently be independently verified.

Meanwhile, fierce fighting continues around the Shifa Hospital, according to a doctor working there. “We can hardly treat the patients in the hospital and we are in the middle of a war zone,” said the doctor at the largest clinic in the coastal strip, Ahmed Mokhallalati, on Sunday to the Al-Jazeera news channel. “There are ongoing airstrikes and drones circling the area of the hospital.”

The Israeli army’s announcement that civilians could leave the hospital via the eastern side was a “big lie,” the doctor said. Just on Saturday, a family of five tried exactly this. She was then shot. “So they came back hurt.”

According to Palestinian reports, the clinic has recently come under attack several times. Israel’s army denied allegations of attacks and accused terrorists from the Islamist Hamas, which rules in the Gaza Strip, of deliberately positioning themselves near the hospital. With 700 beds, it is the most important hospital complex in the coastal strip.