JERUSALEM

Israel demanded the evacuation of 20 hospitals in the northern Gaza Strip, six of which have already been evacuated, an Israeli security official said on Saturday.

“Four hospitals refused the evacuation orders while the rest are in the process of being evacuated,” the unnamed official told the Israeli Broadcasting Corporation.

The official claimed that "about 30,000 Palestinians came to the shelters surrounding Shifa Hospital to act as human shields."

The UN and international institutions said, during the past few days, that there is a humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip as a result of the Israeli bombing and siege imposed on Gaza.

However, the Israeli official said: "There is no humanitarian crisis in Gaza."

"So far, 700,000 citizens have been evacuated from the northern Gaza Strip to the southern Gaza Valley,” he said.

Israel had asked about 1.1 million Palestinians in the northern Gaza Strip to evacuate their homes and head to south.

* Writing by Ikram Kouachi