Israel's ‘go’ order: 450 patients left at Al-Shifa hospital, scores flee on foot

Israel-Hamas War: Gaza health officials said that 450 patients were left behind at Al-Shifa hospital.

Hundreds of people fled after Israel's army ordered the evacuation of Gaza's main hospital- Al-Shifa- where more than 2,000 patients and displaced people were trapped. However, Gaza health officials said that 450 patients were left behind at hospital, as per news agency AFP. The facility has become the focus of the war as Israel has been pressing military operations inside the hospital claiming that Hamas' operations centre is beneath the complex. Hamas has denied the charge.

Here are the latest updates on the situation in Al-Shifa hospital:

1. Israel ordered the evacuation of the Al-Shifa hospital "in the next hour" over loudspeakers, AFP reported.
2. The hospital's director, Mohammed Abu Salmiya, was instructed to ensure "the evacuation of patients, wounded, the displaced and medical staff, and that they should move on foot towards the seafront", he said.
3. The United Nations estimated that 2,300 patients, staff and displaced Palestinians were sheltering at Al-Shifa facility.
4. Israel also told Palestinians to move from the north of Gaza for their safety as deadly air strikes continue to hit central and southern areas of the territory.
5. A first consignment of fuel entered Gaza as Israel's national security adviser Tzachi Hanegbi said, “We took that decision to prevent the spread of epidemics.”
6. About 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and about 240 people have taken hostage, Israel has said. In Gaza, around 12,000 people, including 5,000 children, have been killed.
7. The UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) said that 70 percent of residents have no access to clean water in south Gaza. Raw sewage has begun to flow on the streets, it warned.
8. UN humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths told the UN General Assembly that fuel supplies to the agency so far were "a fraction of what is needed to meet the minimum of our humanitarian responsibilities".
9. In Gaza, more than 1.5 million people have been internally displaced while more than half of Gaza's hospitals are no longer functional.

Israel-Hamas War: Israeli soldiers walk in the area of Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City. (AP)