53 min ago
Palestine Red Crescent Society says staff remains "trapped" in Al-Quds Hospital
From CNN’s Niamh Kennedy in London
The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) is unsure its staff is still alive as teams are "trapped" inside the Al-Quds Hospital in Gaza City, a spokesperson for the organization told CNN on Tuesday.
“When I'm talking to you now, I'm not sure if they still are alive or not,” PRCS spokesperson Nebal Farsakh told CNN’s Max Foster during an interview.
The organization, based in Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, has struggled to reach its teams inside the hospital for more than six days. The PRCS has only been able to communicate with its team via high-frequency radio waves, which Farsakh described as “unstable” and prone to “constant distortion.”
Farsakh said the roughly 300 patients in the hospital and PRCS medical staff are all “unable to leave,” adding that all the surrounding roads remain closed. She said all those inside are “trapped,” hearing continuous bombardment and shooting in the surrounding area.
A PRCS convoy had
attempted to travel on Monday from southern Gaza to the Al-Quds Hospital to evacuate staff and patients. During the interview with CNN, Farsakh claimed that after searching the PRCS vehicles and giving them the go-ahead to travel to Al-Quds, the Israeli military then informed the convoy that it couldn’t travel there because there was an ongoing “military operation” in the area.
CNN could not independently verify the PRCS claims regarding the convoy. CNN has reached out to the IDF for comment but has yet to hear back.
Also on Monday, the Israeli military said
it had killed a group of Hamas fighters “embedded” among civilians at the hospital after its troops were fired on from the entrance. The PRCS, however, disputed the Israeli military's claims, saying, "There are no armed individuals inside the hospital and no shots were fired from inside."
Israel says its forces are carrying out a "precise and targeted operation" at the Al-Shifa Hospital. Israel has claimed the hospital, the largest in the Gaza Strip, includes a Hamas command center, an allegation denied by hospital officials and Hamas.
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