Israel must rescind forced evacuation orders issued to 23 hospitals in Gaza. These hospitals give life-saving care to over 2,000 patients and are the last safe haven for tens of thousands of displaced families.

On 13 October, 23 hospitals in the north of Gaza Strip and Gaza City received forced evacuation orders from the Israeli army. These evacuation orders are virtually impossible to carry out - transferring patients through destroyed buildings, across rubble and through the conflict - all without fuel, is absolutely unreasonable.

“Evacuating this hospital is virtually impossible since moving patients from the ICU, moving incubated newborn babies, the injured who number more than fifty, is just impossible,” a doctor at Al-Quds hospital, one of the 23 hospitals told Amnesty International.

If these “evacuations” were carried out, it would lead to the complete collapse of Gaza’s healthcare system. In the words of the World Health Organization, these evacuations would be a “death sentence” for any patients with serious wounds or illnesses. 

Israel cannot consider the whole of the Gaza Strip, its hospitals and civilian infrastructure, a military target. Doctors and nurses in Gaza are heroically working to save lives, amid unthinkable horror. Many of them have lost family, friends and colleagues but still persevere through ongoing attacks in an awe-inspiring commitment to humanity.

As of 22 October, over 4,650 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza including 1,873 children, and over 14,245 wounded during the ongoing Israeli strikes that began on 7 October. It’s estimated over 1.4 million people have been displaced since the outbreak of recent hostilities according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

Add your name to the petition to demand Israeli authorities rescind evacuation orders, and protect healthcare facilities as required under international humanitarian law.