Israel ‘orders foreign medical workers to leave Gaza within 48hrs’ in preparation for use of ‘new bomb’

Medics refuse to abandon their patients, even after attack on US surgeons, but UN reduces its personnel by a third after tank attack

Israel has ordered foreign medical workers to leave Gaza within 48 hours or face a ‘new type of bomb’ supplied from the US that Israel is preparing to use, according to reports from within the Strip. It appears that international doctors and nurses are so far refusing the order, despite last week’s deadly attack on a US surgical team at the Nasser hospital, including doctors who have exposed Israel’s murderous tactics to US and UK media.

The reports are not yet confirmed, but Israel has this month escalated its blocking of the entry of new medical and aid workers into Gaza, which has been going on for more than six months.

The United Nations, however, has announced it is reducing its non-Palestinian staff in Gaza by around a third after last week’s attack by Israeli tanks on a clearly-marked UN base that killed one Hungarian UN staff member and severely wounded six other foreign staff. The departure will involve around thirty staff. The UN has not said whether the latest ‘new bomb’ threat has played a role in the decision.

Israel has already been accused by Palestinian engineers and others in Gaza of using a ‘new’ type of munition similar to the US ‘grasscutter’ bomb – the weapon leaves only a shallow crater but creates a wide, shallow blast that causes extreme damage over a radius of hundreds of metres. The occupation has long been known to use banned white phosphorus and ‘bunker-busting’ bombs on civilian areas during its genocide.

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