Two of the North Gaza Latest functional hospitals were surrounded by Israeli troops, preventing anyone from leaving or entering the facilities, hospital staff and aid groups said this week, while Israel continued its renewed offensive In The devastated Palestinian territory.
The Indonesian Hospital and the Al-Awda Hospital are among the only surviving medical centers in the region. The two were criticized this week, including bombing in Al-Awda which occurred on Wednesday while the Associated Press spoke to its director on the phone.
A third hospital, Kamal Adwan, is out of service, said its director, citing Israeli troops and drones nearby.
Friday, the Israeli authorities issued evacuation orders For large parts of northern Gaza Before attacks intended to put pressure on the Hamas militant group to release more hostages. New evacuation orders followed on Tuesday.
The three hospitals and the three primary health care centers are in the evacuation zone. Israel did not order the evacuation of the installations themselves. Two other hospitals and four primary care centers are within 1,000 meters (1,093 yards) in the area, said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Managing Director of the World Health Organization.
Israeli military operations and evacuation orders “extend the health system beyond the breakdown,” he said.
Hundreds of attacks on health establishments
Only 20 of the 36 Gaza hospitals remain partially functional, serving more than 2 million people in the territory, in the midst of continuous bombing, increasing malnutrition rates and reducing medical supplies.
The WHO said that northern Gaza hospitals are running “a serious risk of closing completely”. The United Nations agency has documented nearly 700 attacks against health establishments in Gaza since the 19 -month war of Israel against the Hamas militant group.
The Israeli army attacked or besieged hospitals throughout The war, accusing Hamas of using them as command centers and hiding combatants, although it has provided evidence only for some of its assertions. Hamas security men have been seen in hospitals during the war, controlling access to certain regions, and in recent weeks, Israel has targeted alleged activists Inseral Health signs.
The Palestinians say that the latest attacks on northern hospitals are part of a wider plan to move the population to the south and ultimately lead them from Gaza.
The Palestinians evacuated after the Israeli army issued an evacuation warning for several schools and a hospital in the Rimal district of Gaza City, Wednesday, May 14, 2025. (AP photo / Jehad Alshrafi)
Israel has promised to facilitate what he calls the voluntary migration of A large part of the Gaza population to other countries, which many Palestinians and others consider A forced expulsion plan.
Israel wants to “ensure the forced displacement of people in the region” by putting hospitals out of service, said Rami Shurafi, a member of the board of directors of the Al-Awda hospital.
Indonesian hospital is attacked
The Indonesian hospital, formerly the largest in the north of Gaza, was surrounded by Israeli troops, which were positioned at around 500 meters (545 meters). The drones have hovered over, watching any movement, since Sunday, a help group that has supported the hospital said.
The Israeli army said that its forces operated around the hospital and targeting Hamas’ infrastructure, but that the troops had not entered the installation and that the ambulances were allowed to move.
The Israeli bulldozers have demolished a wall of the hospital perimeter, according to the Merc-Indonesia aid group and a member of the hospital staff who had evacuated since. The staff spoke under the cover of anonymity because he was not allowed to speak to the media.
On Tuesday, air strikes targeted the hospital generators, triggering a fire and damaging its main power supply. Strikes have also damaged the hospital’s water supply, according to a video published by Merc-Indonesia. Large flames have been seen rising from the area before the day check. A video speaker said that the fire was close to the hospital’s fuel supply, but the firefighters controlled the flames.
According to the WHO, at least one staff member was killed, who said that those who stayed in the hospital had an urgent need for water and food. The UN said that he was working to transfer other patients to other facilities.
Military activity around the hospital has also damaged the ceilings, the hospital roof and certain equipment. Nearly 20 people, including six patients and 13 medical workers stayed at the hospital, said an Indonesia manager of Merc-Indonesia, speaking under the guise of anonymity because they were not allowed to speak to the media. Most of the patients evacuated after the fighting intensified in the region from Thursday.
Doctors and hospital staff were not immediately achievable to comment. A video published by Merc-Indonesia which was shot through the hospital windows showed an Israeli reservoir a few meters (several feet) from the hospital.
Israeli strikes from Al-Awda Hospital
Almost a kilometer (about half a million), Israeli drones shot Al-Awda hospital on Monday, preventing Shurafi. On Wednesday, the hospital was bombed while its director was on the phone with AP. A large boom could be heard on the call.
“They bomb the hospital,” said Dr. Mohammed Salha, director of the establishment. He then said that a security guard was injured. Patients were not near the area that was affected, he said.
A video shared with AP showed roof and debris damage in the corridors, the dust always rising from the area.
International relief, the support group supporting Al-Awda, said that hospital water tanks and a patient room have been affected in Israeli strikes.
On Tuesday, Israeli drones shot two ambulances that transferred three patients to Gaza City while the crews were trying to return to the hospital, spokesperson Khaled Alhelo said.
Alhelo himself could not return to the hospital on Tuesday due to military activity. There are currently no ambulances or internet lines at Al-Awda hospital, according to Shurafi and Alhelo.
Israeli troops are approximately 900 meters (about half a thousand) from the hospital, said Alhelo. But the real risk, he said, comes from Israeli drones overvaining the hospital and preventing any movement in or outside.
“Whoever moved to the hospital is dismissed. They are all low inside the hospital,” he said.
The Israeli army had no comments when he was asked about the situation in Al-Awda and did not immediately respond to a request for comments on Wednesday.
About 47 patients, including nearly 20 children and several pregnant women, and some 140 doctors and medical staff are still at the hospital, said Shurafi, a member of the hospital board of directors.
He said that the hospital’s board of directors decided not to evacuate the hospital and called for supplies and the return of ambulances because there are still bombings and injured in the region.
“In the light of war and conflicts, it should remain functional,” said Shurafi. He said that the hospital had been besieged and attacked several times since the start of the war in October 2023, but called the current phase of “the most critical”.
The war in Gaza began when activists led by Hamas attacked southern Israel, killing some 1,200 people, mainly civilians and removing 251 others. Activists still hold 58 captives, about a third of which are supposed to be alive, after most of the others returned to ceasefire agreements or other offers.
Israel’s reprisal offensive, which destroyed large expanses of Gaza, killed more than 53,000 Palestinians, mainly women and children, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health, which does not make the difference between civilians and combatants in its count.
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Journalists from the Associated Press Fatma Khaled in Cairo and Sam Mednick in Tel Aviv, Israel, contributed to this report.
