Northern Gaza hospitals under artillery fire, barely operational: WHO

North Gaza's last two functioning hospitals, al-Awda and Kamal Adwan, are barely operational, doctors and the World Health Organization have said with Israel's war on Gaza now in its eighth month.

WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a press conference in Geneva on Tuesday that "148 hospital staff, 22 patients and their companions are trapped inside" the hospital.

Hospital officials also said that Israeli forces had fired on the facilities and that snipers had been deployed near one of them.

"Today marks the third day of the siege on al-Awda Hospital in northern Gaza," the hospital's acting director Dr Mohammad Saleh told AFP.

He reported that Israeli forces had been "firing at the hospital buildings" and that "snipers" had taken up position in nearby houses.

Dr Saleh said the "southern wall" of the hospital "has been destroyed" and "all medical staff and patients" are inside the hospital wards.

Moving around the hospital was "extremely difficult", he said.

The WHO regularly visited al-Awda in April to deliver medical supplies and fuel, but Ghebreyesus also reported snipers aiming at the building and artillery hitting the fifth floor.

But staff still had to transfer water "from the second building to the first one because the occupation (Israeli) forces hit the first building with a shell on the fifth floor yesterday (Monday), destroying the water tanks".

'ICU hit, evacuations underway'

Dounia Dekhili, emergency coordinator for Doctors Without Borders (MSF) in Gaza, said "nothing is coming in or out" of the hospital because of fears of sniper fire.

"Our operating theatre supervisor has been hiding for a few days, he can hear gunshots," Dekhili told AFP after speaking to the man inside al-Awda.

Dr Saleh did not report any casualties, but said the episode was reminiscent of the last Israeli military attacks in the area of the northern Gaza hospital, which is located next to the Jabalia refugee camp.

Despite AFP requests, the Israeli military has yet to comment on the attack in al-Awda.

Tuesday also saw patients and staff being evacuated from another north Gaza hospital, Kamal Adwan, its director Dr Hossam Abu Safia told AFP .

"Currently, the hospital is being evacuated of the wounded, patients, and medical staff," he said, adding that "there are several patients that the medical teams have not been able to evacuate".

Rik Peeperkorn, WHO representative in the Palestinian Territories, said on Tuesday from Jerusalem that the hospital's intensive care unit reception area had been hit.

"At the moment, 20 health staff and 13 patients remain," Peeperkorn said, adding that "these are functional hospitals we cannot afford to lose", referring to both Kamal Adwan and al-Awda.

"These are the only two functional hospitals remaining in northern Gaza. Ensuring their ability to deliver health services is imperative," Ghebreyesus said in Geneva.