Updated 10.07 | Published 09.49
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Hundreds of people have evacuated al-Shifa hospital following Israel’s call to leave the area within an hour.
The message must have been announced via loudspeakers in the area, reports AFP.
But evacuating all the people is impossible according to the hospital staff.
The Israeli Defense Force, the IDF, is said to have called for the evacuation of the al-Shifa hospital on Saturday morning. They should have been given an hour, several news agencies report.
According to the AFP news agency, the message must have been spread through loudspeakers.
The head of the hospital, Mohammed Abu Salmiya, is also said to have received phone calls that both patients and staff should “walk towards the sea on foot”.
Al Jazeera have spoken to a doctor on site who believes that it is impossible to do in an hour. Among other things, because they don’t have enough ambulances to transport patients and premature babies.
At 10 o’clock, hundreds of people started to leave the area.
Israel: Military Command Center
Al-Shifa Hospital is the largest in Gaza. According to the UN’s estimates, around 2,300 people are in the hospital facility – patients as well as staff and refugees.
On Wednesday, Israeli personnel entered the area and began searching the buildings.
Israel claims that Hamas has used the hospital as a military command center, something the terror group and staff at the hospital have denied.
The photos and videos presented by Israel as evidence have not been verified by any outside party.