The Gaza Ministry of Health and the World Health Organization (WHO) say the Nasser Hospital in southern Gaza’s Khan Younis is no longer functioning after a weeks-long siege and repeated raids by Israeli forces.
WHO Director-General Tedros Ghebreyesus said on Sunday that the Israeli military had blocked the organization’s access to the hospital since Friday.
The WHO team was to assess the conditions of the patients and critical medical needs.
Tedros is warning about the loss of life at the hospital, which he says is now housing some 200 patients. These include at least 20 people with an urgent need for referral to other hospitals.
“There are still about 200 patients in the hospital. At least 20 need to be urgently referred to other hospitals to receive health care; medical referral is every patient’s right,” he said in a post on X, adding that “the cost of delays will be paid by patients’ lives.”
Nasser hospital in #Gaza is not functional anymore, after a weeklong siege followed by the ongoing raid.
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…
— Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (@DrTedros) February 18, 2024
Gaza’s Health Ministry spokesperson Ashraf al-Qudra Ashraf al-Qudra also said on Sunday that “there are only four medical staffers currently caring for patients” inside the hospital.
Al-Qudra earlier said Israel’s military forces had turned the hospital in southern Gaza into a military barracks.
The spokesman noted that Israeli forces also detained a large number of medical staff inside the hospital.
The Israeli forces placed medical personnel for long hours in the maternity building while they were handcuffed, beat them and stripped them of their clothes.
“The Israeli forces arrested the intensive care doctor, and there is no doctor to follow up on critical cases,” the spokesman said
He also said that the Israeli forces arrested dozens of patients who could not move while they were on treatment beds. They were placed on army beds, placed in trucks, and taken to an unknown destination, putting their lives in danger.
Electricity has been cut off from Nasser Medical Complex for 3 days, which has led to the cessation of oxygen for patients.
The cessation of oxygen has led to the death of 7 patients so far, and we fear the death of dozens of serious cases.
Three women, including a doctor, gave birth in Nasser Medical Complex in unsafe and compelling circumstances, lacking water, food, electricity, and hygiene.
In the past few days, Israeli soldiers had raided the hospital, where displaced Palestinians were also sheltering.
Regime forces raided the facility on Thursday. On Friday, an aid convoy led by the United Nations was detained for seven hours and prevented from reaching the hospital.
Meanwhile, al-Amal Hospital, the only other major medical facility still operational in Khan Younis, continues to be a target of Israeli attacks.
The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) on Sunday said Israeli forces targeted the third floor of the hospital with artillery fire.
Healthcare situation in Gaza is beyond critical: IFRC chief
Meanwhile, Jagan Chapagain, the secretary-general and CEO of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said that the healthcare situation in Gaza is beyond critical and the gap between needs and support available is widening.
He also said that due to the situation, many vulnerable people are lacking essential medical services.
“Civilian population in Gaza have suffered enough, and healthcare stands as one of the last remaining beacons of hope,” Chapagain said on X.
He added: “I remind all parties that the right to access healthcare must be upheld even in times of conflict. Once again, I call for safe and unhindered access for humanitarian workers so they can continue their life-saving work.”
The Israeli military has expanded its siege on Khan Younis and its medical facilities as it pushed further south into Rafah on the border with Egypt.
A collection of organizations, including local NGOs working with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), say that the expansion of Israeli military ground operations in Rafah risks cutting the lifeline of humanitarian assistance to displaced Palestinians.
In a statement on X, the agency’s partners said that in collaboration with the World Kitchen, they had managed to provide 1,700 people in the Nuseirat camp with hot meals but warned that “there is not enough food” for Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
Israeli raids have killed nearly 130 people in Gaza since Saturday.
Nearly 29,000 Palestinians have been killed and about one and a half million displaced in the Israeli onslaught on the Gaza Strip since October 7.
