Doctor pleads for protection as forced evacuation order is widened to include Rafah\u2019s Kuwaiti Hospital
\nGaza Strip
\nThe Israeli military has ordered residents in more areas of eastern and central Rafah to evacuate as it expands its offensive in the southernmost corner of the Gaza Strip, again displacing tens of thousands of Palestinians.
\nAn estimated 150,000 Palestinians, many displaced multiple times, have now fled Rafah, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) said on Saturday. Israel put that figure at about 300,000.
\nReporting from Deir el-Balah in central Gaza, Al Jazeera\u2019s Tareq Abu Azzoum said: \u201cIsraeli authorities dropped leaflets and made phone calls for more evacuation orders. They are now ordering people to flee from central areas of Rafah, not only the eastern portions, where battles are now raging.\u201d
\nEarlier on Saturday evacuation orders were issued for Shaboura and the vicinity of the Kuwait Specialty Hospital, Abu Azzoum said, adding that \u201cpeople are told to flee because these areas will in the future become a military operation zone for the Israeli army. The situation is completely dire\u201d.
\nSaheb al-Hams, a hospital director in Rafah, confirmed that the expanded evacuation order included the Kuwaiti Hospital in Rafah city where countless numbers of patients and injured people are being treated.
\n\u201cThere is no other place for patients and injured people to go to but this hospital,\u201d al-Hams said in a video message obtained by Al Jazeera, as he pleaded for \u201cimmediate international protection\u201d for the facility.
\nEarlier on Saturday, the Israeli army said in a statement that \u201capproximately 300,000 Gazans\u201d had moved from the eastern part of Rafah to al-Mawasi since the order was issued on Monday.
\nIsrael claims al-Mawasi, on Gaza\u2019s western coast, is a \u201csafe humanitarian zone\u201d. But humanitarian groups and displaced Palestinians say tens of thousands of people are crammed into the area, and are facing severe food and water shortages, as well as periodic bombardments.
\n\u201cThey told us these areas are not threatened and is safe. But it turned out that this area is dangerous,\u201d Ahmad Abu Nahil, a displaced Gaza resident, told Al Jazeera as his family fled Rafah.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Doctor pleads for protection as forced evacuation order is widened to include Rafah\u2019s Kuwaiti Hospital Gaza Strip The Israeli military has ordered residents in more areas of eastern and central Rafah to evacuate as it expands its offensive in the southernmost corner of the Gaza Strip, again displacing tens of thousands of Palestinians. An estimated […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":406415,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-406408","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n