After a week of siege, Israeli forces stormed the largest still operational hospital in the Gaza Strip on Thursday. Thousands of people were evacuated from hospitals. The Israeli military said it was searching for Hamas fighters.
The raid on Nasser Hospital came after troops besieged the facility for nearly a week, with hundreds of staff, patients and others inside struggling under heavy gunfire and increasingly scarce reserves, particularly of food and water.
On Wednesday, the army ordered thousands of displaced people who had taken refuge there to leave the hospital located in the town of Khan Younes, at the heart of the Israeli offensive against Hamas in recent weeks.
The army said it had “credible information” that Hamas had held hostages at the Nasser hospital and that hostage remains could still be inside. Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, the army’s chief spokesman, said that the forces were carrying out an operation “precise and limited” on site and that they would not forcibly evacuate doctors or patients. Israel accuses Hamas of using hospitals and other civilian structures to protect its fighters.
Last month, a freed hostage said she and more than two dozen other captives had been held at Nasser Hospital. International law prohibits targeting medical facilities; the latter may lose this protection if used for military purposes, although operations against them must always be proportional to the threat.
“No water, no food“
As troops searched the hospital buildings, they ordered more than 460 staff, patients and their relatives to move into an older building in the complex, which is not equipped to treat patients. patients, the Gaza health ministry said. They were “in difficult conditions, without food or formula” and suffered from a severe water shortage.
Six patients were left in intensive care, as well as three infants in an incubator, without staff to care for them. The ministry said fuel for the generators would soon run out, putting their lives at risk.
“There is no water, no food. There is garbage everywhere. Sewage flooded the emergency department” said Raed Abed, an injured patient who was among those who left Nasser Hospital on Israeli orders on Wednesday.
International humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders said its staff had to flee the hospital on Thursday, leaving patients behind, and that one staff member was arrested at an Israeli checkpoint.
Nasser Hospital is the latest target of Israeli military operations, as it struggles to treat a steady stream of people injured in daily bombardments.
Truce negotiations blocked
Negotiations for a ceasefire in Gaza appear to be at an impasse, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to continue the offensive and expand it to the town of Rafah, near Egypt, until Hamas was destroyed and the many hostages taken during the October 7 attack were released.
In a phone call Thursday, President Joe Biden again warned Benjamin Netanyahu against a military operation in Rafah before presenting a “credible and executable plan” to ensure the safety of Palestinian civilians, the White House said Thursday.
The war began on October 7 when Hamas militants broke into the Gaza Strip and attacked several Israeli communities, killing some 1,200 people and taking 250 others hostage. More than 100 captives were released during a ceasefire in November, in exchange for 240 Palestinian prisoners.
There are around 130 hostages remaining in Gaza, a quarter of whom are believed to be dead. Benjamin Netanyahu is under intense pressure from the hostages’ families and public opinion to reach a deal to secure their release, but his far-right coalition partners could bring down his government if it is considered too soft with Hamas. Dozens of relatives of hostages demonstrated and blocked traffic Thursday in front of the army headquarters, where the war cabinet also meets.
Israel responded to the Hamas attack with one of the deadliest and most destructive military campaigns in recent history. At least 28,663 Palestinians have been killed, mainly women and children, and more than 68,000 have been injured, according to the health ministry in Hamas-controlled Gaza, which does not distinguish between civilians and fighters. . Around 80% of the population has been driven from their homes and a quarter are dying of starvation, amid a worsening humanitarian catastrophe.
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