Patients continued to be evacuated from a hospital in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis on Tuesday, following an overnight strike that hit a nearby home, killing nine people in a zone designated by Israel for evacuation.
An official at the European Hospital reported that most patients and medical staff had been relocated. Patients were seen lying on hospital beds outside, awaiting evacuation. Abdallah Hamdan, head of the hospital’s emergency unit, confirmed that patients and equipment were being transferred to Nasser Hospital, rendering the European Hospital non-functional.
Sam Rose, the director of planning at the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), stated that around 250,000 people are currently within the evacuation zone, constituting over 10% of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million. Additionally, another 50,000 people living just outside the zone may also choose to leave due to their proximity to the conflict.
Evacuees have been directed to seek refuge in an overcrowded tent camp along the coast, which is already struggling with limited basic services.
The conflict began after Hamas’ attack on October 7, where militants killed approximately 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducted about 250 in southern Israel. In response, Israeli ground offensives and bombardments have since resulted in over 37,900 deaths in Gaza, according to the territory’s Health Ministry, which does not differentiate between combatants and civilians.
The war has severely restricted the flow of food, medicine, and essential goods into Gaza, leaving the population heavily reliant on aid. The top U.N. court has indicated a “plausible risk of genocide” in Gaza, a charge that Israel strongly denies.
