The Israeli incursion into the Nasser hospital in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip resulted in the deaths of at least five patients after a power outage and a cut in oxygen supplies, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health.
The hospital is currently the largest functioning medical facility in Gaza and had been under siege by Israel for weeks.
“We hold the Israeli occupying forces responsible for the lives of patients and staff, considering that the complex is now under their full control,” the ministry said.
In a statement on Telegram, he added that two women gave birth in “inhumane” conditions and that Israeli soldiers forced the women and children to leave the maternity ward without any belongings.
Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) said its staff had also been forced to flee following the incursion.
“Israeli forces set up a checkpoint for people leaving the compound, and one of our colleagues was arrested at that checkpoint. We call to preserve his safety and protect his dignity,” added MSF.
The Israeli military said it arrested more than 20 “terrorists” based on “intelligence indicating Hamas terrorist activity at the hospital.”
Reporting from occupied East Jerusalem, Tel Aviv Tribune’s Rory Challands said that Daniel Hagari, the Israeli army spokesman, claimed that some of those detained were involved in the October 7 attacks in Israel, including including an ambulance driver.
“The Israeli military also believes that there are bodies of Israeli prisoners somewhere on the grounds of Nasser Hospital, and this is another reason why troops are involved in “a precise and limited operation” to health facility,” Challands said, adding that the military also said it found weapons, including mortars and grenades, among those arrested.
Hamas denied any presence inside the Nasser hospital.
“We have repeatedly said that the policy of our Palestinian resistance is and remains to distance public and civilian institutions as well as the health sector from any military activity,” Hamas said in a statement.
“We have repeatedly called on the United Nations and relevant organizations to convene an international committee to examine the hospitals and prove that Israel’s narrative is a lie. But our demands were not heard.
Israel has previously claimed that several Gaza hospitals had been used as Hamas bases.
However, since large parts of Gaza City’s al-Shifa Hospital were destroyed in an attack last year, Israeli evidence has fallen far short of confirming its claims that the medical facility was used as a headquarters. of Hamas. The attack resulted in the deaths of Palestinian patients and hospital staff as well as several thousand people who had taken refuge there,
Instead, its repeated attacks on hospitals have been called “unlawful” by human rights groups, with Human Rights Watch calling for them to be “investigated in full”. “as war crimes”, and South Africa alleging before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague that attacks on Gaza’s health system were evidence of “genocidal acts” committed by Israel.
“We are powerless”
For patients and staff stranded during the hospital raid, the situation is “catastrophic,” according to Dr. Nahed Abu Taima, director of the Nasser Medical Complex.
“The electricity was cut throughout the medical complex. Many patients in intensive care, on oxygen and on dialysis have been fighting for their lives since 3 a.m. (0200 GMT),” Taima told Tel Aviv Tribune on Friday.
“We are helpless, unable to provide any form of medical assistance to the patients inside the hospital or to the victims who flock into the hospital every minute. »
From Rafah, Tel Aviv Tribune’s Hani Mahmoud said the tragedies unfolding at the hospital are also “a continuation of psychological warfare” against Palestinians, who are discovering that no place is safe in the Gaza Strip .
The World Health Organization (WHO) said it was trying to access Nasser Hospital.
“There is an urgent need to deliver fuel to ensure the continuity of vital services. … We are trying to get access because the people who are still at the Nasser Medical Complex need help,” WHO spokesperson Tarik Jasarevic said.
“WHO has repeatedly warned that depriving patients of life-saving care and forcing the sick and injured to move could lead to deterioration or even death. The health of patients must be a priority and uninterrupted care in a safe environment must be ensured,” he added.
Dr. James Smith, an emergency physician who previously worked in Gaza hospitals, said that what the Israeli army is doing at Nasser Hospital “is a complete neglect of the rules that guide conduct during armed conflict.”
Noting an interim ruling last month by the ICJ that Israel must do everything in its power to prevent genocide in Gaza, Smith told Tel Aviv Tribune that it also means the international community must do more to end war crimes committed by Israel.
“This (ICJ) ruling imposes immediate moral, political and legal obligations on all world powers, particularly those who, until now, continue to finance and provide diplomatic support to the Israeli state. »