WHO condemns Israel's orders for evacuation of hospitals in Gaza

The World Health Organization (WHO) has condemned Israel’s repeated orders for the evacuation of 22 hospitals treating more than 2000 inpatients in northern Gaza.

The WHO in its statement said that the forced evacuation of patients and health workers will further worsen the current humanitarian and public health catastrophe in the area.

The lives of many critically ill and fragile patients hang in the balance: those in intensive care or who rely on life support; patients undergoing hemodialysis; newborns in incubators; women with complications of pregnancy, and others all face imminent deterioration of their condition or death if they are forced to move and are cut off from life-saving medical attention while being evacuated.

Health facilities in northern Gaza continue to receive an influx of injured patients and are struggling to operate beyond maximum capacity. Some patients are being treated in corridors and outdoors in surrounding streets due to a lack of hospital beds in Gaza.

Forcing more than 2000 patients to relocate 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.