Patients are out “in the streets without care” after “forced evacuations” of two paediatric hospitals in Gaza, an official said, countering the Israeli army which said it secured safe passage for civilians, AFP reports.

“The forced evacuations of Al-Nasr and Rantisi paediatric hospitals have left sick people on the streets without care” in Gaza City, Mohammed Zaqut, director general of hospitals in the Palestinian territory, told reporters.

“We have completely lost contact with the caregivers” at these two hospitals, he added.

Earlier in the day, the Israeli military said it had “enabled the evacuation” of the two hospitals and opened an additional route to facilitate the safe passage of the civilian population to the south of the Gaza Strip.