The Israeli Armed Forces (IDF) denied reports from the Palestinian Red Crescent and the UN agency for Palestine refugees (UNRWA) that they had been warned by Israel to evacuate Al-Quds Hospital and five schools in Gaza in anticipation of an imminent attack.

An IDF spokesman emphasized that there was no warning to evacuate a hospital or schools, reiterating that the Israeli military has for days asked all civilians in the northern part of the Gaza Strip to evacuate the area and head south.

The Palestinian Red Crescent issued an “urgent appeal” to the international community on Friday, stating that it “received a threat from the occupation forces to bomb the Al-Quds hospital”. In this hospital, 400 patients are treated and 12,000 displaced civilians are accommodated, the Palestinian aid and care organization claims.

“We call on the international community to take immediate and urgent action to prevent another massacre, like the one that happened at Al Ahli Baptist Hospital,” the statement issued by the Palestinian Red Crescent said.

The Israeli armed forces have repeatedly emphasized that they do not target hospitals.

At the same time, the UN agency for Palestine refugees (UNRWA) called for the evacuation of many of its schools where civilians have taken refuge in Gaza City, judging that they are “no longer safe”.

“We have been informed by Israel that it is necessary to evacuate these structures as soon as possible,” UNRWA said in its statement. “We did everything we could to protest and reject this decision, but the bottom line is that now our structures are no longer safe,” he added, calling for the evacuation to proceed “immediately.”