Israeli doctors’ group to Ya'alon: Don’t bomb near Gaza City hospital

[cali]

An urgent letter sent Wednesday night by Physicians for Human Rights calls on the Israel Defense Forces to desist from bombing near the Al Wafa rehabilitation hospital in Gaza City.

The letter was sent to Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon after warning missiles hit the hospital last Friday, causing damage to the building. As a result, the hospital, in the a-Shuja’iyeh neighborhood, was damaged and some of the patients evacuated. But other patients, whose medical condition prevented their evacuation, remained in the hospital.

According to the letter, this is the only hospital in the Gaza Strip that specializes in treating seriously disabled or comatose patients. Hospital sources claimed that on Tuesday the hospital received a notice from the IDF, to the effect that hospital staff should evacuate patients and leave the building by 8 A.M. the next day, in light of the IDF’s intention to bomb the neighborhood. PHR, which is in contact with the hospital staff, claimed that already at 5 A.M., three hours before the end of the warning period, the nursing building in the hospital was hit, apparently by artillery fire.

Some of the patients were evacuated, but currently there are 17 patients in the hospital whose medical condition prevents evacuation. Some medical staff have remained with them, as well as foreign nationals who refuse to leave the hospital as long as there are still patients there.

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http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/.premium-1.605747

[Jefferson23]

1. Military demand to evacuate rehabilitative hospital in Gaza unlawful

B’Tselem has discovered that the Israeli military included the al-Wafaa rehabilitative hospital in a-Shuja’iyeh neighborhood in the demand it issued to residents of the a-Shuja’iyeh and a-Zeitun neighborhoods to evacuate their homes by today, July 16, 2014 at 8:00 AM. Hospital Director Basman al-‘Ashi told B’Tselem over the phone that the hospital received a recorded message last night at around 11:10 PM, saying that a-Shuja’iyeh residents must leave the area and move north to the city center. Shortly thereafter, at around 11:30 PM, the hospital received another phone call from a person saying he was from the military who repeated the demand to evacuate the hospital specifically.

According to al-‘Ashi, the hospital currently has 17 patients, between the ages of 14 and 95, all suffering from different degrees of paralysis. There are also some thirty staff members in the hospital at this time and a number of international activists. Al-‘Ashi clarified that there is no intention to evacuate the hospital, noting that this was one of the only hospitals in Gaza to offer rehabilitative treatment for patients in these conditions.

The military’s demand to evacuate the hospital is unlawful. A hospital is not a military target and the military may not target it even after it is evacuated. The information B’Tselem has indicates that the hospital was ordered to evacuate as part of the sweeping demand to evacuate the entire neighborhood, in blatant disregard for the fact that evacuating a rehabilitation institution is a complicated task which may put lives at risk. There is no other rehabilitative institute in the area where patients can be transferred. These patients require special conditions that cannot be recreated. Transferring hospital patients is complicated and dangerous at the best of times. Under the current conditions in Gaza, the danger is mortal.

http://www.btselem.org/press_release/20140716_al_wafa_hospital