Dr. Mohammed Abu Afash, Director of Medical Relief in the Gaza Strip, said that the Israeli occupation has demanded that all health and medical institutions, along with their staff, immediately leave Gaza City, which is witnessing a wide-scale assault and heavy airstrikes across all its areas.

Abu Afash stressed that the shutdown of health institutions in Gaza City—especially international ones—would be a major blow to the already exhausted health system in the Gaza Strip, which has been systematically targeted and destroyed.

He explained that more than 15,000 wounded and sick people as a result of the assault are in urgent need of medical evacuation and guaranteed access to proper treatment and health services. However, evacuation operations are proceeding extremely slowly and are far from meeting the needs, especially with the ongoing expansion of the assault on Gaza City.