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Middle East conflict

Palestinian Red Crescent evacuates patients, medical teams from Al-Quds Hospital in Gaza

The PRCS did not specify the number of people evacuated from the medical facility

© Ali Jadallah/Anadolu/Reuters

CAIRO, November 15. /TASS/. The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) managed to evacuate patients and medical teams from the Al-Quds Hospital in the north of the Gaza Strip, according to a statement on X (formerly Twitter).

"It was a challenging and perilous day. Today, we managed to evacuate the patients, the wounded, their families, and the medical teams trapped in the Al-Quds Hospital, compelled by the tragic situation that had befallen the hospital. This comes after more than ten days of siege, during which medical and humanitarian supplies were prevented from reaching the hospital," the statement reads.

The PRCS did not specify the number of people evacuated from the medical facility. "The wounded and patients are being transported to receive the necessary medical care in southern hospitals that are already suffering from fuel shortages and a scarcity of medical supplies and medications," the Palestine Red Crescent said.

On November 14, the PRCS said that an effort to evacuate about 300 staff members and patients from the Al-Quds Hospital had failed. On November 13, the organization said that a motor convoy sent to evacuate medical teams and patients from the hospital had to turn back due to heavy shelling in the area. On November 8, Arab media outlets reported Israeli strikes on the medical facility. The Israeli army, in turn, said that attacks targeting members of the radical movement Hamas in a building adjacent to the hospital had caused "secondary explosions."

Tensions in the Middle East flared up again on October 7 after militants from the radical Palestinian group Hamas launched a surprise incursion into Israeli territory from the Gaza Strip, killing residents of border communities and taking people, including women, children and the elderly, hostage. Hamas described its attack as a response to the aggressive actions of Israeli authorities against the Al-Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem’s Old City. Israel announced a total blockade of Gaza and launched ground operations in the enclave, also carrying out air strikes on targets in the Strip, as well as on certain areas in Lebanon and Syria. Clashes are also taking place in the West Bank.

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Here are the key statements, made during the meeting

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