MSF announces the closure of Al Awda hospital in northern Gaza after several days under siege

May 23. (EUROPA PRESS) –

Doctors Without Borders (MSF) announced this Thursday that the Gazan Al Awda hospital, located in Jabalia, in the north of the Gaza Strip, has been forced to close after being under siege by the Israeli Army for several days.

“This comes after a terrifying four-day siege, the latest in a series of systematic attacks against health services by Israeli forces,” the NGO said in a message published on the social network X.

MSF has detailed that on May 19 the hospital was surrounded by Israeli tanks and both staff and patients had to take refuge under tables and beds “while bullets and shelling broke the windows.”

“Al Awda is a lifeline for the people of northern Gaza. The hospital must be able to continue providing care to patients: we continue to ask for its protection and that of all health centers, patients and medical staff,” concluded the NGO, which has been working in collaboration with Al Awda Hospital since 2018.

The director general of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, denounced the day before the “invasion” by the Israeli Army of the hospital, where there were a total of 140 people including medical staff, patients and companions.

According to military orders, twelve members, including the director, 14 patients and eight companions stayed behind, while most of the patients were referred to Al Ahli Hospital, which has already requested the transfer of stable patients to another medical facility.

The toll of victims due to the military offensive unleashed by Israel against the Gaza Strip after the attacks carried out on October 7 by the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) – which left 1,200 dead and 240 hostages – and others Palestinian militias has increased to 35,800 dead, according to the authorities of the enclave, controlled by the Islamist group.