MSF Says May Stop Work At Khartoum Hospital After Attack

Smoke is seen in Khartoum, Sudan, Wednesday, April 19, 2023. Terrified Sudanese are fleeing their homes in the capital Khartoum, witnesses say, after an internationally brokered cease-fire failed and rival forces battled in the capital for a fifth day. (AP Photo/Marwan Ali)
Smoke is seen in Khartoum, Sudan, Wednesday, April 19, 2023. Terrified Sudanese are fleeing their homes in the capital Khartoum, witnesses say, after an internationally brokered cease-fire failed and rival forces battled in the capital for a fifth day. (AP Photo/Marwan Ali)
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MSF Says May Stop Work At Khartoum Hospital After Attack

Smoke is seen in Khartoum, Sudan, Wednesday, April 19, 2023. Terrified Sudanese are fleeing their homes in the capital Khartoum, witnesses say, after an internationally brokered cease-fire failed and rival forces battled in the capital for a fifth day. (AP Photo/Marwan Ali)
Smoke is seen in Khartoum, Sudan, Wednesday, April 19, 2023. Terrified Sudanese are fleeing their homes in the capital Khartoum, witnesses say, after an internationally brokered cease-fire failed and rival forces battled in the capital for a fifth day. (AP Photo/Marwan Ali)

The Doctors Without Borders (MSF) charity said Friday its team was attacked in Khartoum, warning it may suspend operations at one of the few hospitals still operating in war-torn Sudan's capital.

Armed men on Thursday beat 18 MSF employees and threatened one with death as they were transporting supplies to Khartoum's Turkish Hospital, the medical charity said in a statement.

The Turkish Hospital is one of only two medical facilities still open in southern Khartoum, MSF said.

It added both hospitals are in an area of the city controlled by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, which since April 15 have been fighting the regular army.

The war, led by feuding generals, has killed at least 3,000 people and displaced more than 3.3 million. Khartoum as well as the western region of Darfur have seen the worst of the violence.

After arguing about the reasons for their presence, the MSF team was "aggressively assaulted by a group of armed men, who physically beat and whipped them" while trying to reach the Turkish Hospital, the Geneva-based organisation said.

"They detained one of our drivers and threatened his life before releasing him. They also stole one of our vehicles."

The incident put their continued activities at the hospital in doubt, it added.

MSF says it is one of the few international medical humanitarian organizations still present in Khartoum.

The incident occurred about 700 metres (765 yards) from the Turkish Hospital, which on the same day, MSF said, received 44 patients wounded in an airstrike.

It said its activities in the hospital would not be able to continue without minimum safety guarantees.

"If an incident like this happens again, and if our ability to move supplies continues to be obstructed, then, regrettably, our presence in the Turkish Hospital will soon become untenable," said Christophe Garnier, MSF's emergencies manager for Sudan.

The fighting in Khartoum has intensified as warplanes pound residential areas to try to dislodge the RSF who set up bases there years ago.

Both sides also exchange regular artillery fire.

On Friday, more air raids shook several areas of Khartoum as well as the major city of El-Obeid 350 kilometres (220 miles) to the south, residents said.

The commercial hub is on the road connecting the capital to the vast western region of Darfur, a stronghold of the RSF that has also been gripped by deadly warfare.

El-Obeid airport is coveted by both sides in the conflict for its storage facilities of both aid supplies and gum Arabic, a major Sudan export, although these stocks are likely to have been looted.

MSF said it has treated more than 1,600 war wounded patients in Khartoum since the conflict began.

The World Health Organization has verified 51 attacks on healthcare in Sudan since the conflict began, resulting in 10 deaths and 24 injuries.



Over 100 Patients to Be Evacuated from Gaza, WHO Says

 A youth salvages items from the rubble of a building destroyed in Israeli strikes in Deir el-Balah in the central Gaza Strip on November 5, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. (AFP)
A youth salvages items from the rubble of a building destroyed in Israeli strikes in Deir el-Balah in the central Gaza Strip on November 5, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. (AFP)
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Over 100 Patients to Be Evacuated from Gaza, WHO Says

 A youth salvages items from the rubble of a building destroyed in Israeli strikes in Deir el-Balah in the central Gaza Strip on November 5, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. (AFP)
A youth salvages items from the rubble of a building destroyed in Israeli strikes in Deir el-Balah in the central Gaza Strip on November 5, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. (AFP)

More than 100 patients including children will be transferred out of the Gaza Strip on Wednesday in a rare medical evacuation from the Palestinian enclave during the Israel-Hamas war, a World Health Organization official said on Tuesday.

The WHO says fewer than 300 patients have been evacuated from Gaza since early May, when Israel expanded its military offensive southwards and took over the southern Rafah Crossing with Egypt, which had been used for medical transfers.

Rik Peeperkorn, WHO representative for the Occupied Palestinian Territory, said the patients, including children with trauma injuries and chronic diseases, would depart in a large convoy via the Kerem Shalom crossing with Israel.

Under arrangements made by the WHO, the patients will then fly to the United Arab Emirates from Ramon Airport in southern Israel, and some will travel on to Romania, he said.

"These are ad hoc measures. What we have requested repeatedly is a sustained medevac (medical evacuation) outside of Gaza," Peeperkorn told a press conference.

Asked whether Israel had approved the transfer, he said he was hopeful it would be facilitated by Israeli authorities.

He said more than 12,000 people were awaiting transfer, adding: "We cannot continue the way we do now."

COGAT, the Israeli military agency responsible for Palestinian affairs, says it actively facilitates the departure of seriously ill or injured patients, adding that the scope of such evacuations was determined by the capacity of organizations and countries to receive them.

As of last week, it said 10 groups of patients had been evacuated through Israel and it was willing to coordinate more.

Peeperkorn was part of a WHO convoy that on Nov. 3 provided some relief for the busy al-Awda and Kamal Adwan hospitals in northern Gaza which he said were barely operational because of medical and staff shortages.

"For al-Awda we are very concerned because the hospital needs urgent fuel and medical supplies, otherwise it might become non-functional over the coming week," he said of the hospital in Jabalia, just north of Gaza City.

Israel accuses Hamas fighters of hiding among civilians, including in hospitals, in the war that began after the deadly Hamas attack on southern Israeli communities on Oct. 7, 2023.

In a night-time raid on the Kamal Adwan Hospital last month, an Israeli military official said around 100 Hamas fighters were captured, some posing as medical staff, along with weapons. Hamas rejected the accusations.