Battles force Palestinians out of hospitals in Gaza, leaving patients, babies and medics stranded

Israel’s purported drive to separate civilians from Hamas militants has come at a heavy cost, with more than two-thirds of Palestine’s population of 2.3 million having already fled their homes.

Battles around hospitals forced thousands of Palestinians to flee from some of the last shelters in northern Gaza, stranding critically wounded patients, including newborns, and their caregivers with dwindling supplies and no electricity, health officials said on Monday.

The Israeli military has urged Palestinians to flee south on foot through what it calls safe corridors. But its purported drive to separate civilians from Hamas militants has come at a heavy cost, with more than two-thirds of the territory’s population of 2.3 million having already fled their homes.

Thousands fled Gaza's Shifa Hospital over the weekend as Israeli troops encircled it, but hundreds of patients and displaced people remained, according to officials. Shifa “is not functioning as a hospital anymore,” World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said. A second Gaza City hospital faces evacuations after running out of fuel.

Both sides have seized on the plight of hospitals, particularly Shifa’s, as a symbol of the larger war, now in its sixth week. The fighting was triggered by Hamas’ October 7 surprise attack into Israel, and Israel’s response has brought unseen levels of death and destruction to Gaza.

Follow Israel Hamas war Day 38 Live Updates here

For Palestinians, Shifa evokes the suffering of civilians. For weeks, staff running low on supplies have performed surgery there on war-wounded patients, including children, without anesthesia. Up until days ago, tens of thousands of people driven from their homes by airstrikes lived in and around the complex, hoping it would be safe.

Israel says Hamas shields itself among civilians, and that the hospital, Gaza’s largest, is a prime example. It says the militants have a command center in and beneath the medical compound. Israel has released maps and diagrams showing what it says are bunkers and other Hamas installations in and around Shifa, but has not provided any evidence.