Palestinian woman says Israeli troops ordered 800 displaced people out of clinic
A Palestinian woman has told the BBC that Israeli troops stormed the Al-Suwaidi (Swedish) Clinic in Shati refugee camp, west of Gaza City, and ordered 800 displaced people who had been sheltering there to leave.
“They took the young men out, including my three sons and separated the women and children,” Maryam al-Arabeed, 65, said on Monday morning.
“I saw an Israeli bulldozer completely demolish the Al-Suwaidi building.”
Arabeed said she and six other women, as well as a number of children, walked away from the clinic and slept in the street after being told by the troops to go to Al-Shifa Hospital, which is about 1km (0.6 miles) to the south.
The UN has warned that the situation is dire at Al-Shifa, with constant gunfire and bombings in the area. Doctors have said that patients had died because of power cuts caused by a lack of fuel.
“I am in the hospital and I do not know where my sons and relatives are,” Arabeed said.
“Tanks were shooting above our heads and they asked us not to look to the right or left. I saw dozens of martyrs and wounded screaming in the road.”
The Israel Defense Forces has told the BBC it was looking into the allegation.
On Sunday morning,
the IDF said in a statement that during a battle in Shati camp its soldiers had identified civilians located in a building in the area. “The IDF secured an evacuation route for the civilians, and as the civilians were evacuating, terrorists fired at the troops from the outskirts of the area,” it added.
The UN said overnight that the Al-Suwaidi Clinic had reportedly been hit and destroyed in an air strike on Saturday.
m.jpost.com
