WHO: Order to evacuate north Gaza potentially a ‘death sentence’ for hospitalized

Palestinians are treated at a hospital in the city of Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip on October 12, 2023. (Said Khatib/AFP)
Palestinians are treated at a hospital in the city of Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip on October 12, 2023. (Said Khatib/AFP)

The World Health Organization says forcing thousands of hospital patients to evacuate to already overflowing hospitals in the southern Gaza Strip may be “a death sentence.”

Israel has warned Palestinians to evacuate northern Gaza ahead of an expected ground offensive against Hamas, one week after the deadliest attack in Israel’s history.

“WHO strongly condemns Israel’s repeated orders for the evacuation of 22 hospitals treating more than 2,000 inpatients in northern Gaza,” the UN health agency says in a statement.

“The forced evacuation of patients and health workers will further worsen the current humanitarian and public health catastrophe.”

Moving 2,000 patients to southern Gaza, “where health facilities are already running at maximum capacity and unable to absorb a dramatic rise in the number patients, could be tantamount to a death sentence,” the WHO said.

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