Jordan says Israel has ordered field hospital to be removed from Gaza

Mobile medical centre is the first to enter Gaza since October 7

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Jordan has refused an order by Israel to remove its field hospital from the Gaza Strip, Jordan's Prime Minister Bisher Al Khasawneh said on Tuesday.

The Jordanian military is also strengthening its presence along the border with Israel, he said, in a sign of increased tension with its neighbour amid the ongoing war in Gaza.

On Monday, the field hospital became the first mobile medical centre to enter Gaza since the outbreak of the war on October 7.

It is being set up in the enclave's southern city of Khan Younis and will include more than 40 hospital beds as well as a crew of about 200 health workers and doctors.

The field hospital will also be equipped with a surgical unit and will have a section focused on newborn babies, health officials told The National on Tuesday, before the demand to remove the hospital had been announced.

“The hospital will help in conducting rare operations such as orthopaedic neurosurgery, vascular surgeries and paediatric surgeries,” said Norhan Hamada, director of outpatient operations at the Ministry of Health in Gaza.

“The hospital will consist of two parts: one will be for those injured and the other part will have 40 incubators for new babies.”

The section for injuries contains 28 beds, two operating rooms and four intensive care beds. It will also have a library, a pharmacy and an outpatient clinic, Ms Hamada told The National.

Ms Hamada said Gaza's “health system is almost paralysed due to the shortage of fuel, medical supplies and power cuts”.

“This field hospital is set up to help the health sector in the Gaza Strip and to give the wounded suitable treatment,” she said.

On Monday, about 40 lorries carrying aid entered the strip, loaded with medical supplies, tents and medical equipment for the field hospital.

Workers set up the Jordanian field hospital in Khan Younis. Reuters

At least 13,000 Palestinians, including about 5,000 children, have been killed since the Israel-Gaza war began, according to Hamas.

More than 30,000 people have been injured and more than half of the territory's 2.3 million residents displaced since the start of the Israeli air strike campaign.

Ahmed Hassan, 33, who received serious injuries to his right leg, told The National that hospitals inside the strip cannot function.

“I hope this hospital can help in providing proper treatment for patients as hospitals in Gaza now can’t,” Mr Hassan said.

“I was injured following an Israeli bomb attack on our neighbour's house. I didn’t get a good treatment as the hospital was full of injured people and there were shortage in medical supplies.”

Jordan's Crown Prince Hussein bin Abdullah supervise sending the field hospital from Al Arish, Egypt, to Gaza. Photo: Petra News Agency