As flames engulf Al-Awda Hospital in northern Gaza, Palestinian NGOs have issued a desperate plea to the international community: intervene now, before it is too late. The hospital, one of the last functioning medical facilities in the Tel al-Zaatar area, was struck by an Israeli airstrike, igniting its medicine and fuel stores and triggering a massive blaze that continues to rage unchecked.

With fire crews barred from reaching the site and Israeli tanks encircling the hospital, more than 130 staff, volunteers, and patients remain trapped inside — defenceless and abandoned. Water and fuel tanks have exploded. Infrastructure is collapsing. The fear of a complete shutdown looms, echoing the fate of countless other health centres across Gaza that have been systematically destroyed since the beginning of the war.

The Palestinian NGO Network warns that this is not an isolated incident but part of a wider campaign to annihilate Gaza’s healthcare system. By targeting the heart of civilian life — hospitals, doctors, and patients — the occupation forces are deepening the humanitarian catastrophe and violating every tenet of international law.

Al-Awda is more than just a building. It is a lifeline in a city where ambulances have no fuel, surgeries are performed without anaesthesia, and patients bleed on cold floors because there are no more beds. The silence of the international community has only emboldened these attacks.

This is an urgent call not for statements or concern, but for immediate protection. A humanitarian corridor must be secured, medical teams must be allowed to operate, and those responsible for these war crimes must be held to account. The people of Gaza are not asking for pity — they are demanding their right to live.