A delegation of US professionals on Tuesday entered the Gaza Strip to start work on a new and advanced field hospital.
A Gazan official told TPS that the medical equipment for the project is expected soon.
The 10-acre hospital will be constructed using the infrastructure of an IDF military hospital established a few years ago on Israel’s border with Syria, and the equipment was donated by US nonprofit Friendship. Qatar has donated $1 million to the project.
The hospital will be located some 200 yards from the Erez Crossing on the Israel-Gaza border. It will be managed by voluntary organizations and doctors from several countries.
The Palestinian Authority is opposed to the project, saying it is part of a collaboration between Israel and Hamas to expand the split between the PA and the Strip. Fatah has announced that any civilian project that does not receive the PA’s approval is advancing President Donald Trump’s Deal of the Century peace plan, and deepen the schism between the PA and Gaza.
Hamas supports the hospital project, as part of its desperate effort to prevent the collapse of health services in the Gaza Strip, but Gaza’s other terror groups oppose it. They argue that, being this close to the border, the planned hospital could be taken over by Israel in minutes.
The opposition to Hamas in Gaza also points out that relieving the health crisis with help from the US and Israel undermines the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), which has been cut off American aid by President Trump.