KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip, Nov 18: In a distressing turn of events, patients, staff, and displaced individuals were forced to evacuate Gaza's largest hospital, Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, as Israeli forces took control of the facility earlier in the week. Only a skeleton crew remains to attend to those too ill to move.

The evacuation coincided with the restoration of internet and phone services in the Gaza Strip, ending a telecommunications blackout that had halted critical humanitarian aid deliveries by the United Nations. The blackout had rendered the UN unable to coordinate its convoys effectively.

Israeli forces claim to be searching for a Hamas command center allegedly located beneath Shifa Hospital, a contention vehemently denied by both Hamas and the hospital staff. Despite the denial, the military urged the remaining several thousand people to leave. The military clarified that it did not issue an evacuation order, allowing medical personnel to stay and care for patients unable to be relocated.

Contradicting this, Medhat Abbas, a spokesman for the Health Ministry in Hamas-controlled Gaza, asserted that the military had ordered the facility to be cleared within an hour.

Dr. Ahmed Mokhallalati, a Shifa physician, took to social media to report that approximately 120 patients, including those in intensive care and premature babies, were still at the hospital. He stated that he and five other doctors remained behind to care for them.

In a separate incident, an Israeli airstrike struck a residential building on the outskirts of Khan Younis, resulting in the tragic death of at least 26 Palestinians, with another 20 wounded, according to Dr. Nehad Taeima at Nasser Hospital. Israel, as customary, rarely comments on individual strikes but maintains its focus on targeting Hamas while attempting to minimize harm to civilians.

The ongoing conflict, now in its seventh week, originated from Hamas' October 7 attack in southern Israel, resulting in the death of approximately 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and the abduction of around 240 individuals, including men, women, and children.

The toll of the war is staggering, with over 11,400 Palestinians reported killed, two-thirds of them women and minors, according to Palestinian health authorities. An additional 2,700 are believed to be missing, possibly buried under rubble. Israel contends that it has targeted thousands of militants, but the count does not distinguish between civilians and combatants.

The United Nations has issued a warning about the critical shortage of food and water in Gaza, with over 2.3 million people affected. While the telecommunications blackout has ended, allowing for the return of news and messages from journalists and activists on social media platforms, the resumption of aid deliveries by the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, remains uncertain. (AP)