[News] An urgent call to save the staff and patients of Gaza’s al-Awda Hospital

[Anti-Imperialist News]

 An urgent call to save the staff and patients of Gaza’s al-Awda Hospital

*Hospitals have become prisons in northern Gaza. This is a desperate cry to
humanity.*
Published On 27 Oct 2024 - https://
www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2024/10/27/an-urgent-call-to-save-the-staff-and-patients-of-gazas-al-awda-hospital
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[image: a photo of a doctor checking up on a child in darkness with another
holding a flash light]
A doctor checks on a child in Al-Awda Hopsital amid a blackout in February
[File: Al Jazeera]

As I write, thousands of people in northern Gaza are on the move,
attempting to escape the worst nightmare imaginable. Forced from their
homes and temporary shelters, they are leaving behind everything they have
known. The landscape of devastation is reminiscent of some of the worst
conflicts in recent memory.

Northern Gaza, which is one-fourth of Gaza’s territory, has been under
siege for 23 days. The nearly 400,000 residents who had remained there
after a year of war face inhumane conditions as food, water and medicines
have run out and aid is not reaching them. More than 800 people have been
killed in three weeks.

The situation in Jabalia refugee camp, which has been the focus of the
ongoing military assault, is particularly dire. Al-Awda Hospital, which is
supported by Relief International, is the only partially functional medical
centre in the area.

The facility has been struck three times in three weeks. Its upper floors
and water system have been destroyed, along with its warehouse and pharmacy
where critical medicine was stored. Last week, an ambulance carrying
patients was hit, killing a woman who had just given birth, as well as her
companion.

For the past five days, the facility has been encircled by armed forces,
meaning neither civilians nor staff can get in or out. Inside, a total 163
people are trapped, including 24 patients in critical care, 31 others with
their companions, and seven children. The surrounding area is inaccessible,
and transportation is impossible without a ceasefire. I am extremely
worried that the hospital will soon be stormed as we have seen with other
health facilities in the past 24 hours.

Alongside the patients are 65 al-Awda staff. They are heroes who have shown
incredible dedication – choosing to stay to help members of their
communities in critical need. Since the start of the offensive on northern
Gaza in early October, they have helped thousands of patients and performed
hundreds of surgeries with the hospital crumbling around them.

Our shipments of medicine and equipment that were due to arrive at al-Awda
Hospital this month could not be delivered due to the border crossings at
Erez West and Erez Crossing/Beit Hanoon being closed.

After the horrors of World War II, the right to health was enshrined in the
1946 Constitution of the World Health Organization. Just a few years later,
in 1949, the Geneva Conventions were adopted to protect civilians and
essential infrastructure in times of war and occupation. These conventions
explicitly prohibit forced transfers of civilians, regardless of motive,
and demand protection for medical personnel and healthcare facilities.

Yet today, in Northern Gaza, these principles are being shattered.

Humanity must not turn away. This is a call to all parties in this
conflict: protect healthcare workers and civilians, ensure humanitarian
access, and halt hostilities near health facilities. This is also a call to
third states to uphold international humanitarian law and demand its
enforcement in Gaza.

This is not just a plea for justice, it is a desperate call to save the 163
lives trapped within al-Awda Hospital and countless others in northern
Gaza. Relief International demands a ceasefire now.
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