As bombardments by the Israeli military reportedly continued overnight across Gaza, along with ground incursions and heavy fighting, the head of the UN World Health Organization (WHO) issued an alert on Tuesday for staff and patients at besieged Al-Awda hospital in the north of the enclave.
"Medical staff inside the hospital reported an attack on 20 May, with snipers aiming at the building and an artillery rocket hitting the fifth floor," Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on X.
Some 148 staff and 22 patients and their companions have remained "trapped inside" the hospital since Sunday, the WHO Director-General added, before issuing an appeal for their protection.
Evacuation order impact
According to the WHO, only around one third of Gaza's 36 hospitals still function, leaving critical health care facilities "inaccessible" to patients and healthcare workers impacted by the violence or evacuation orders.
