Gaza City, January 8 (RHC)-- The United Nations reports there are just five doctors remaining at Al-Aqsa Hospital, the largest hospital in central Gaza, which is coming under repeated attacks by Israel.  Over the weekend, Doctors Without Borders and other aid groups withdrew from the hospital. 

The World Health Organization says 600 patients have been forced to evacuate the hospital; the whereabouts of those former patients are now unknown. 

Sean Casey, the WHO medical team coordinator, spoke from inside the hospital.  “There are patients coming in every few minutes, and it’s really a chaotic scene.  The hospital director just spoke to us, and he said his one request is that this hospital be protected.  Even though many of his staff have left, even though this hospital is under enormous pressure, the one request that the hospital director said is that the international community needs to make sure that this hospital and other hospitals like it stay protected, that they not get struck, that they not get evacuated, that they’re able to continue functioning.  That’s the critical message for today.”