Jordanian field hospitals in Gaza take on role of sanctuary for Palestinians

Doctors treat patients at a Jordanian military field hospital in the besieged Gaza Strip. (Supplied)
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Updated 25 December 2023
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Jordanian field hospitals in Gaza take on role of sanctuary for Palestinians

  • One 40-bed facility, located in Tel Al-Hawa in northern Gaza, has become a symbol of safety
  • The medical institutions are operated under the efficient management of the Jordanian army

AMMAN: Jordanian military field hospitals in the besieged Gaza Strip stand as the primary, and often the “only,” fully functional medical facilities in this war-torn area.

They have transcended their medical roles, evolving into sanctuaries for Gazans who seek refuge amid the relentless Israeli bombardment of their territory.

In the Gaza Strip, Jordan has established two pivotal field hospitals. The first was inaugurated in 2009, in the aftermath of the Israel-Hamas conflict in 2008. The second facility was set up more recently in Khan Younis, which is the second-largest city in Gaza, with its establishment dated back to Nov. 29.




Doctors treat patients at a Jordanian military field hospital in the besieged Gaza Strip. (Supplied)

These vital medical institutions are operated under the efficient management of the Jordanian army, following direct instructions from King Abdullah of Jordan.

The Jordanian military has demonstrated a strong commitment to these hospitals. According to official reports, the Jordanian air force has undertaken six significant airdrop operations.

These airdrops have been crucial in delivering medical aid to the hospitals in Gaza, utilizing parachutes for efficient and safe delivery. The most recent airdrop, which took place on Dec. 14, saw the participation of Princess Salma, the daughter of King Abdullah.




Doctors treat patients at a Jordanian military field hospital in the besieged Gaza Strip. (Supplied)

Princess Salma holds a distinguished position as a first lieutenant/pilot in the Royal Jordanian Air Force.

A concerning incident was reported on Nov 16. Seven members of the medical staff at the field hospital in Gaza sustained injuries. This unfortunate event occurred at the entrance of the emergency department, highlighting the perilous conditions under which these medical professionals work.  

One field hospital, located in Tel Al-Hawa in northern Gaza, known as “Gaza/76,” is a 40-bed facility that finds itself in a location that has been subject to heavy bombardment by Israeli fighter jets.




An injured child arrives at a Jordanian military field hospital in the besieged Gaza Strip. (Supplied)

Tragically, the medical staff of this hospital experienced injuries while they were engaged in the noble act of providing medical aid to Palestinians who had been wounded during an air strike.

An anonymous army source, in a conversation with Arab News, shed light on the operational status of the two Jordanian hospitals in Gaza.

The source emphasized that these hospitals are not just functional but are “operating 24/7 at full capacity.” They are also performing complex surgical procedures on a daily basis, a testament to their crucial role in the region.  

The source further revealed that these hospitals are not merely medical centers but have become sanctuaries for many Palestinian families. These families, especially those in the southern Gaza Strip city of Khan Younis, are seeking refuge at the Jordanian hospitals, seeing them as safe spaces in a landscape marred by conflict.




Doctors treat patients at a Jordanian military field hospital in the besieged Gaza Strip. (Supplied)

  After the end of a brief one-week truce in Gaza on Dec. 1, Israel has expanded its military operations, particularly in the southern part of the enclave. This escalation has led to a surge in the number of displaced Palestinians. Hundreds of thousands are reported to have sought shelter in facilities run by the United Nations, and in other areas in the southern towns.

“The hospital in the northern part of Gaza has become a symbol of safety,” the army source said.

“Displaced Palestinians are seeking protection not just inside the hospital but also around its vicinity, particularly at the entrance. They perceive it as a safe zone, free from the threat of Israeli strikes.”

The compassionate staff of the hospital are not just providing medical care but are also sharing essential supplies like food and water with the displaced Palestinians.




Doctors treat patients at a Jordanian military field hospital in the besieged Gaza Strip. (Supplied)

Some of these displaced individuals have chosen to stay at the hospital, even after a majority of the population from the intensively bombarded northern Gaza moved south.

As for the situation at the “Special Field Hospital 2” in Khan Younis, the source noted an increasing influx of displaced Palestinians. This increase is attributed to the fact that more supplies are reaching this newly established hospital. Additionally, its location in southern Gaza makes it more accessible to the displaced population, who are now predominantly located in the south.

The Jordanian Armed Forces (JAF) made a significant announcement recently. They reported that a large convoy, consisting of 15 trucks loaded with essential supplies, medical equipment, and 2,000 units of various blood types, arrived at the Khan Younis hospital on a Thursday evening.

This delivery plays a crucial role in supporting the hospital’s surgical operations and overall medical capabilities.

JAF also confirmed that the hospital received an additional 2,000 units of blood, crucial for the numerous surgical procedures they undertake.

UN estimates paint a stark picture of the displacement crisis in Gaza. Of the 2.4 million population in Gaza, an overwhelming 1.9 million people are displaced, with the majority located in Khan Younis and other southern towns. 

Between Nov. 29 and Dec. 21, the hospital in Khan Younis has been a beacon of hope, receiving 15474 cases and successfully performing 4473 surgeries, as reported in a JAF statement.

The army highlighted the multifaceted role of the Khan Younis hospital. While it primarily functions as a surgical center, it also opens its doors to emergency cases, including those resulting from the war.

“The hospital in Khan Younis is a round-the-clock facility, always ready to welcome anyone seeking medical attention. It caters to a wide array of medical needs, from complex surgeries and injury treatments to addressing more minor illnesses, such as the flu,” the source added.


Head of controversial US-backed Gaza aid group resigns

Updated 26 May 2025
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Head of controversial US-backed Gaza aid group resigns

  • Jake Wood says he accepted the role as head of Gaza Humanitarian Foundation "to help alleviate the suffering" in Gaza
  • But he is stepping down because “it had become clear that implementing the organization’s plan was not possible”

WASHINGTON: The head of a controversial US-backed group preparing to move aid into the Gaza Strip announced his abrupt resignation Sunday, adding fresh uncertainty over the effort’s future.
In a statement by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), executive director Jake Wood explained that he felt compelled to leave after determining the organization could not fulfil its mission in a way that adhered to “humanitarian principles.”
The foundation, which has been based in Geneva since February, has vowed to distribute some 300 million meals in its first 90 days of operation.
But the United Nations and traditional aid agencies have already said they will not cooperate with the group, amid accusations it is working with Israel.
The GHF has emerged as international pressure mounts on Israel over the conditions in Gaza, where it has pursued a military onslaught in response to the October 7, 2023 attacks by Hamas.
A more than two-month total blockade on the territory only began to ease in recent days, as agencies warned of growing starvation risks.
“Two months ago, I was approached about leading GHF’s efforts because of my experience in humanitarian operations” Wood said.
“Like many others around the world, I was horrified and heartbroken at the hunger crisis in Gaza and, as a humanitarian leader, I was compelled to do whatever I could to help alleviate the suffering.”
Wood stressed that he was “proud of the work I oversaw, including developing a pragmatic plan that could feed hungry people, address security concerns about diversion, and complement the work of longstanding NGOs in Gaza.”
But, he said, it had become “clear that it is not possible to implement this plan while also strictly adhering to the humanitarian principles of humanity, neutrality, impartiality, and independence, which I will not abandon.”
Gaza’s health ministry said Sunday that at least 3,785 people had been killed in the territory since a ceasefire collapsed on March 18, taking the war’s overall toll to 53,939, mostly civilians.
Hamas’s October 2023 attack on Israel that triggered the war resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.
Militants also took 251 hostages, 57 of whom remain in Gaza including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.
Wood called on Israel “to significantly expand the provision of aid into Gaza through all mechanisms” while also urging “all stakeholders to continue to explore innovative new methods for the delivery of aid, without delay, diversion, or discrimination.”

 


Israeli strike kills 20 in Gaza school housing displaced people, health authorities say

Updated 26 May 2025
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Israeli strike kills 20 in Gaza school housing displaced people, health authorities say

  • Medics said the dozens of casualties in the strike on the school, in the Daraj neighbourhood of Gaza City, included women and children

GAZA CITY: An Israeli strike on a school housing displaced people in Gaza killed at least 20 people and injured dozens, local authorities told Reuters early on Monday.
Israel stepped up its military operations in the enclave in early May, saying it is seeking to eliminate Hamas' military and governing capabilities and bring back the remaining hostages who were seized in October 2023.
Medics said the dozens of casualties in the strike on the school, in the Daraj neighbourhood of Gaza City, included women and children.
Some of the bodies were badly burned according to images circulating on social media, which Reuters could not immediately verify.
There was no immediate comment by the Israeli military.
Despite mounting international pressure that pushed Israel to lift a blockade on aid supplies in the face of warnings of looming famine, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said last week that Israel would control the whole of Gaza.
Israel has taken control of around 77% of the enclave either through its ground forces or evacuation orders and bombardments that keep residents away from their homes, Gaza's media office said.
The Israeli campaign, triggered after Hamas Islamist militants attacked Israeli communities on October 7, 2023, killing about 1,200 people, has devastated Gaza and pushed nearly all of its two million residents from their homes.
The offensive has killed more than 53,000 people, many of them civilians, according to Gaza health authorities.

 


Israel leader meets visiting US homeland security secretary: PM’s office

Updated 26 May 2025
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Israel leader meets visiting US homeland security secretary: PM’s office

  • The visit comes as Israel ramps up its offensive in the Gaza Strip

JERUSALEM: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with visiting US Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem in Jerusalem on Sunday, his office said.
US and Israeli media reported that Trump had sent Noem to Jerusalem following the killing of two Israeli embassy staffers in Washington last week.
Noem was accompanied at her meeting with Netanyahu by US Ambassador Mike Huckabee, Netanyahu’s office said in a brief statement Sunday night.
The office added that during the meeting Noem “expressed her unreserved support for the prime minister and the State of Israel.”
The visit comes as Israel ramps up its offensive in the Gaza Strip in what it says is a renewed effort to destroy Hamas.
Earlier in the evening, Noem and Huckabee had visited the city’s Western Wall, where early celebrations for Monday’s “Jerusalem Day” holiday were taking place.
The holiday commemorates what Israel considers Jerusalem’s reunification under its authority after the city’s eastern sector was captured by its forces in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war.


’Death is sometimes kinder’: Relatives recount Gaza strike that devastated family

Updated 26 May 2025
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’Death is sometimes kinder’: Relatives recount Gaza strike that devastated family

  • The paediatrician, with no means of transport, ran from the Nasser Hospital to the family house in the city of Khan Yunis, a relative told AFP, only to be met with every parent’s worst nightmare

GAZA CITY, Palestinian Territories: Alaa Al-Najjar was tending to wounded children at a hospital in the southern Gaza Strip when the news came through: the home where her own 10 children were staying had been bombed in an Israeli air strike.
The paediatrician, with no means of transport, ran from the Nasser Hospital to the family house in the city of Khan Yunis, a relative told AFP, only to be met with every parent’s worst nightmare.
“When she saw the charred bodies, she started screaming and crying,” said Ali Al-Najjar, the brother of Alaa’s husband.
Nine of her children were killed, their bodies burned beyond recognition, according to relatives.
The tenth, 10-year-old Adam, survived the strike but remains in critical condition, as does his father, Hamdi Al-Najjar, also a doctor, who was also at home when the strike hit.
Both are in intensive care at Nasser Hospital.
When the body of her daughter Nibal was pulled from the rubble, Alaa screamed her name, her brother-in-law recounted.
The following day, under a tent set up near the destroyed home, the well-respected paediatric specialist sat in stunned silence, still in shock.
Around her, women wept as the sounds of explosions echoed across the Palestinian territory, battered by more than a year and a half of war.

The air strike on Friday afternoon was carried out without warning, relatives said.
Asked about the incident, the Israeli military said it had “struck a number of suspects who were identified operating from a structure” near its troops, adding that claims of civilian harm were under review.
“I couldn’t recognize the children in the shrouds,” Alaa’s sister, Sahar Al-Najjar, said through tears. “Their features were gone.”
“It’s a huge loss. Alaa is broken,” said Mohammed, another close family member.
According to medical sources, Hamdi Al-Najjar underwent several operations at the Jordanian field hospital.
Doctors had to remove a large portion of his right lung and gave him 17 blood transfusions.
Adam had one hand amputated and suffers from severe burns across his body.
“I found my brother’s house like a broken biscuit, reduced to ruins, and my loved ones were underneath,” Ali Al-Najjar said, recalling how he dug through the rubble with his bare hands alongside paramedics to recover the children’s bodies.
Now, he dreads the moment his brother regains consciousness.
“I don’t know how to tell him. Should I tell him his children are dead? I buried them in two graves.”
“There is no safe place in Gaza,” he added with a weary sigh. “Death is sometimes kinder than this torture.”
 

 


Israel’s latest strikes in Gaza kill 38 people including a journalist and children

Updated 26 May 2025
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Israel’s latest strikes in Gaza kill 38 people including a journalist and children

  • Local journalist and several family members were killed by an airstrike that hit his house earlier on Sunday
  • Latest deaths resulted from Israeli strikes in Khan Younis in the south, Jabalia in the north and Nuseirat in central Gaza Strip

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip: Israeli strikes over the past 24 hours killed at least 38 people in Gaza, including children, a local journalist and a senior rescue service official, local health officials said Sunday.

The latest deaths in the Israeli campaign resulted from separate Israeli strikes in Khan Younis in the south, Jabalia in the north and Nuseirat in the central Gaza Strip, medics said.
In Jabalia, they said local journalist Hassan Majdi Abu Warda and several family members were killed by an airstrike that hit his house earlier on Sunday.
Another airstrike in Nuseirat killed Ashraf Abu Nar, a senior official in the territory’s civil emergency service, and his wife in their house, medics added.
There was no immediate comment by the Israeli military.

The Hamas-run Gaza government media office said that Abu Warda’s death raised the number of Palestinian journalists killed in Gaza since October 7, 2023, to 220.
In a separate statement, the media office said Israeli forces were in control of 77 percent of the Gaza Strip, either through ground forces or evacuation orders and bombardment that keeps residents away from their homes.

The armed wing of Hamas and the Islamic Jihad said in separate statements on Sunday that fighters carried out several ambushes and attacks using bombs and anti-tank rockets against Israeli forces operating in several areas across Gaza.
On Friday the Israeli military said it had conducted more strikes in Gaza overnight, hitting 75 targets including weapons storage facilities and rocket launchers.
Further details emerged of the Palestinian doctor who lost nine of her 10 children in an Israeli strike on Friday.
Gaza’s Health Ministry said 3,785 people have been killed since Israel ended a ceasefire in March.

Israel launched an air and ground war in Gaza after Hamas militants’ cross-border attack on October 7, 2023, which killed 1,200 people by Israeli tallies with 251 hostages abducted into Gaza. Hamas has yet to release the 58 hostages it still holds.
The conflict has killed more than 53,900 Palestinians, according to Gaza health authorities, and devastated the coastal strip. Aid groups say signs of severe malnutrition are widespread.
Israel also blocked all food, medicine and fuel from entering Gaza for 2 1/2 months before letting a trickle of aid enter last week, after experts’ warnings of famine and pressure from some of Israel’s top allies.
Israel is pursuing a new US-backed plan to control all aid to Gaza, but the American heading the effort unexpectedly resigned Sunday, saying it had become clear that his organization would not be allowed to operate independently.
The United Nations has rejected the plan. UN World Food Program executive director Cindy McCain told CBS she has not seen evidence to support Israel’s claims that Hamas is responsible for the looting of aid trucks. “These people are desperate, and they see a World Food Program truck coming in and they run for it,” she said.
COGAT, the Israeli defense body overseeing aid for Gaza, said 107 trucks of aid entered Sunday. The UN has called the rate far from enough. About 600 trucks a day entered during the ceasefire.
Israel also says it plans to seize full control of Gaza and facilitate what it describes as the voluntary migration of its over 2 million population, a plan rejected by Palestinians and much of the international community.
US Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem visited Israel on Sunday and met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.