Field Hospital Patients in Rafah Begin to Be Discharged Before Possible Evacuation

Palestinian refugees in the Rafah camp. (Source: Doctors Without Borders)

JAKARTA - Humanitarian organization Doctor Without Borders (MSF) said it had started returning patients from its field hospital in Rafah ahead of a possible evacuation, according to a statement on Wednesday, citing the head of its medical team in Gaza Aurélie Godard.

"We have started to discharge patients at Rafah Indonesia Field Hospital, who can walk, and we are also preparing for possible evacuation," said Godard, reported by CNN, May 8.

He further explained that alternative health facilities in areas outside the evacuation zone were inadequate to meet patient needs.

"Some field hospitals or alternative buildings that are built will not be able to accommodate the influx of injured patients, in addition to routine medical needs such as childbirth and chronic diseases. Health needs will increase massively while access to health services will further decrease," he explained.

The statement also warned that an attack on Rafah would be "catastrophic" for the more than one million people living in the region.

"Living conditions throughout Gaza are already very dangerous. This will be even worse for people who have returned from being displaced and have to live in makeshift tents with very limited access to basic needs such as water," he explained.

MSF warned that Israel's new offensive on the Gaza Strip would further deteriorate the region's health infrastructure, adding providing medical and humanitarian assistance at this time was "extremely challenging."

It is known that Israel on Monday called on civilians in the eastern area of ​​the city to evacuate to the northern area which Israel claims has been prepared, but international humanitarian agencies have called the location uninhabitable, in line with their planned operations in the city.

Later that evening, Israel announced it had launched a counterterrorism operation in Rafah. It is known that Israel has long wanted to attack Rafah to hunt down the remnants of Hamas battalions which they say are there.