Second-Largest Hospital in Gaza Not Functional After IDF Raid, Says WHO Head
© AFP 2023 / -
Subscribe
The hospital is the Gaza Strip’s second-largest in the southern Khan Younis city and it is where 200 patients now remain.
Gaza’s al-Nasser hospital is no longer functional following an Israeli raid, wrote Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO), on Sunday. Scores of people including patients and doctors were arrested during the raid, the Gaza Health Ministry and a senior UN official said.
The head of WHO said that a team from the organization was barred from entering the facility on Friday and Saturday “despite reaching the hospital compound to deliver fuel alongside partners”. He said that the delays will cost patients their lives, and added that there are still 200 patients in the hospital; 20 of whom need to be “urgently referred to other hospitals to receive health care.”
Nasser hospital in #Gaza is not functional anymore, after a weeklong siege followed by the ongoing raid.
— Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (@DrTedros) February 18, 2024
Both yesterday and the day before, the @WHO team was not permitted to enter the hospital to assess the conditions of the patients and critical medical needs, despite…
The hospital also acted as a shelter for Palestinians who had been displaced due to the war.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) entered the complex on Thursday, excusing their actions based on claims that hostages taken by Hamas were being held there. They also said their raid was “precise and limited” and accused Hamas of “cynically using hospitals for terror”. The deadly raid followed a weeks-long siege that intensified this week.
16 February, 23:05 GMT
Seven patients died at the hospital on Friday after Israeli troops stormed it and a power outage caused the oxygen to shut off, reported Al Jazeera quoting Ashrag al-Qudra, a spokesperson for the Gaza Health Ministry, adding that there are just now four medical staff able to care for patients.
Al-Amal Hospital, the only other major medical facility still operational in Khan Youni, is also under attack by Israeli forces. On Sunday, the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) said that the IDF had targeted the third floor of the hospital with artillery fire after coming under a weeks-long siege.
Al Jazeera also reported that the IDF have increased their attacks on Palestine from the air, land and sea. The forces are expanding their hold on Khan Yunis as they move further south into Rafah, where more than 1.4 million Palestinians are sheltering.
“In the overnight [air] attacks on Rafah, we’ve seen the horror of displaced Palestinians trying to find shelters in the city where they were ordered to evacuate and told it would be a ‘safe zone’ only to find themselves targeted and killed inside their homes,” reporter Hani Mahmoud said on Sunday.
“On top of that, there is a lack of available medical staff and a shortage of medical supplies, which literally leaves people lying on the floors of hospitals for hours, waiting for help. Israel has put restrictions on the delivery of aid worsening the shortage.”
Remember Yusuf, the kid with curly hair? Who lost his life when their home was bombed. Dr. Mohammed, his dad and also my cousin, he was evacuated with his family Nasser Hospital for safety. Now, the hospital is under the army control, and we have no idea where they are! pic.twitter.com/3tZrmr1UNU
— Ahmed El-Madhoun (@madhoun95) February 18, 2024
A report from last week showed Israeli forces shooting a Palestinian hostage in cold blood after sending him into the al-Nasser Hospital to warn others to evacuate.
18 February, 14:36 GMT
The UN, the US, and other Israel allies said they would not accept an invasion of Rafah while Israel has announced that they will push heir offensive into the city if Hamas does not return their hostages by Ramadan.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also said that any further negotiations over a cease-fire would not be productive given what he said were Hamas’s “delusional demands” which include Israel's retreat from Gaza and the release of Palestinians from Israeli prisons.
The death toll from Israeli strikes in Gaza has now risen to nearly 29,000 people with more than 68,000 people being wounded since the conflict first broke out, according to the enclave's health ministry.
Hamas launched a large-scale rocket attack on October 7, 2023 and breached the border, killing 1,200 and abducting 240 hostages.
