Gaza, May 22 (QNA) - Director-General of the Al-Awda Health and Community Association in the Gaza Strip Raafat Al Majdalawi said that the Israeli shelling of Al-Awda Hospital in the northern Gaza Strip led to a fire in the hospital's medicine warehouse, warning of its spread to other, more sensitive and dangerous areas within the hospital.

Speaking to the Qatar News Agency (QNA) Al Majdalawi explained that the artillery shelling by the occupation forces targeted two floors of the hospital in Tal al-Zaatar, north of the Gaza Strip. He added that the occupation forces' vehicles stormed the hospital grounds and opened heavy fire, targeting medical tents and fuel tanks, which led to a fire in the medicine warehouse.

The Director-General confirmed that the hospital is being subjected to continuous shelling by Israeli military vehicles, preventing medical staff from leaving the hospital due to the siege. Meanwhile, the main and only road to the hospital has been closed due to the accumulation of stones resulting from the ongoing shelling of its surroundings.

He added that since the fire broke out in the hospital, its crews have been trying to extinguish it to ensure it does not spread to the rest of the hospital's facilities and threaten the lives of patients and medical staff. However, the fire continues to spread within the hospital's facilities, and the crews are unable to deal with the fires due to the lack of necessary resources. Israeli tanks have also once again besieged the hospital.

Al Majdalawi stressed that the Al-Awda Association, to which the hospital is affiliated, is in contact with all relevant parties, including the World Health Organization, the health sector, the International Red Cross, the Occupied Palestinian Territory Humanitarian Fund, the Palestinian NGO Network, and others.

He called on the relevant parties to pressure the occupation forces to enable the Al-Awda crews to continue their efforts to extinguish the fires and to prevent their lives from being endangered by the occupation forces present in the vicinity of the hospital. He urged allowing civil defense teams access and facilitating their movement to the Al-Awda Hospital in Tal al-Zaatar in order to extinguish the fires and prevent them from spreading further.

For its part, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) called for immediate access to the hospital to provide protection for patients, staff, and workers, and to enable hospital crews to continue their efforts to extinguish the fires.

The Palestinian Non-Governmental Organizations Network (PNGOs) issued an urgent appeal to protect Al-Awda Hospital and allow Civil Defense teams to extinguish the fires in its buildings, caused by the occupation. The appeal called on international bodies to intervene immediately to stop Israeli attacks on hospitals in the northern Gaza Strip and to allow firefighting crews to reach the hospital.

The appeal highlighted the intentional shelling of the medicine and fuel warehouse at Al-Awda Hospital, where a fire is currently raging. Israeli forces are preventing Civil Defense teams from reaching the hospital, leaving Al-Awda out of service along with all other hospitals in northern Gaza. The organization warned that the fire is spreading, damaging fuel and water tanks, and causing extensive harm to the hospital's facilities.

Israeli tanks continue to surround the hospital, blocking staff and volunteers from addressing the growing fire. The appeal urged international bodies to take immediate action to protect the hospital, its 130 staff and volunteers, and the dozens of patients in its wards, and to ensure urgent access for Civil Defense personnel.

The health sector in Gaza is suffering from a stifling crisis, with the continued ban on the entry of medicines and medical supplies, the continued Israeli targeting of medical personnel through killing or arrest, and the systematic destruction of major hospitals amid the ongoing Israeli aggression on the besieged Strip. (QNA)