Hospitals move patients as Israeli tanks encircle Jabalia camp

Men used an improvised splint to evacuate an injured woman from Jabalia camp on Wednesday

Amid gunfire and Israeli artillery shelling, Palestinian medics say that they have begun moving premature babies and other patients away from Kamal Adwan Hospital in Jabalia refugee camp, as troops and tanks encircle it.

The Israeli military has been carrying out its third ground offensive in the area since the war in Gaza began, saying it is targeting regrouping Hamas fighters who aim to launch attacks.

Two other local hospitals are virtually inaccessible and face evacuation orders, Gazan health officials say.

Dozens of people are reported to have been killed and wounded in the north in recent days.

The Hamas-run Civil Defence agency said on Monday that its first responders had recovered the bodies of 15 people following an Israeli strike on a tented camp for displaced people next to the al-Yemen al-Saeed Hospital.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it had "struck terrorists operating within a command-and-control centre embedded in an area in Jabalia that previously served as a medical compound", and that it had taken steps to mitigate harm to civilians.

The Civil Defence also said five people were killed in a strike on a family home in the camp, which had more than 110,000 registered residents before the war.

Meanwhile, the head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (Unrwa) warned that its own shelters and services were being forced to shut.

“With almost no basic supplies available, hunger is spreading and deepening again,” Philippe Lazzarini said, adding that the second phase of the polio vaccination campaign for children in Gaza was also threatened.

Residents have been speaking to the BBC about their fear and desperation.

“I have been displaced more than 10 times. I’ve moved from house to house, from school to school, under shelling, and from street to street,” said Ahmed Leki, a 50-year-old father from the Falluja area of Jabalia.

"We are exhausted, completely worn out. There's nothing left. Where can we go? We have small children, and there's no safe place in Gaza, not a single safe inch,” he added.

“We left our homes with shells raining down on us, with bombing, destruction, and dismemberment all around us. Enough is enough."

In recent days, new evacuation orders have been issued by the Israeli military covering a wide area in the north of the enclave, including Beit Hanoun, Beit Lahia and parts of Gaza City.

All those remaining in the north - estimated at 400,000 people - have been told to head to the south.

“Displacement is extremely difficult, a tragedy. There is no transportation, no necessities for survival. Men, women, and children ask, ‘Where do we go?’ and the answer is, ‘I don’t know,’” said Bilal al-Amreeti, a local man.

“The sound of Israeli warplanes is above us, there is bombing, and the shelling continues everywhere.”

Despite Israel’s assurances, many Gazans fear that it aims to depopulate the north of the strip and turn it into a closed military zone or a Jewish settlement.