Now trapped in the besieged Palestinian territory, he is volunteering at Gaza’s largest hospital, which is overwhelmed by people in urgent need of life-saving care as medical supplies run short.“People are waiting outside, severely injured and sometimes you have to choose unfortunately, who do you serve,” the neonatologist told The Canadian Press, speaking from his parents’ home in Gaza City.
Israel’s military told about one million Palestinians to evacuate northern Gaza on Friday and head to the southern part of the sealed-off coastal enclave, an unprecedented order applying to nearly half the population ahead of an expected ground invasion against Hamas.The order sparked panic among civilians and aid workers already running from a barrage of Israeli airstrikes, as the U.N. warned staging such an evacuation on a 24-hour deadline would be impossible and potentially calamitous.
Israeli Energy Minister Israel Katz has said, “Not a single electricity switch will be flipped on, not a single faucet will be turned on, and not a single fuel truck will enter until the Israeli hostages” Hamas militants captured from Israel are returned home. Israel has enforced a strict blockade of Gaza since 2007, the year Hamas took power in the coastal enclave. Egypt also tightly controls the flow of goods and people through the Rafah crossing.