February 18, 2024, 12:14 GMT
Updated 2 hours ago
video caption,
Watch: Inside Nasser Hospital as Israeli forces launch raid
The World Health Organization has said that Nasser Hospital in the Gaza Strip is no longer functioning after an Israeli raid.
Israel Defense Forces (IDF) troops entered the complex on Thursday, saying intelligence indicated that hostages captured by Hamas were being held there.
The WHO said it had not been allowed into the site to assess the situation.
The IDF described its operation in Nasser as “precise and limited” and accused Hamas of “cynically using hospitals for terrorist purposes.”
WHO boss Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus wrote on
“Both yesterday and the previous day, the WHO team was not allowed to enter the hospital to assess the condition of patients and urgent medical needs, although they reached the hospital premises along with partners to deliver fuel,” he said.
“There are still about 200 patients in the hospital. At least 20 need urgent referral to other hospitals to receive medical care; A medical referral is the right of every patient.”
According to the Hamas-run Ministry of Health in Gaza, only four medical staff were left at the hospital caring for the remaining patients.
A source at the hospital, who did not want to be named, told BBC News that 11 patients had died due to disruptions in power and oxygen supplies and that several doctors had been arrested.
Yesterday, the Israeli military said its troops had been ordered to keep the hospital running and that food and water had been delivered. When asked about the condition of the hospital this morning, an army spokesman simply said they were checking.
Fighting has been raging around the Nasser compound for weeks. Israel has repeatedly claimed that Hamas uses hospitals as a base of operations in addition to schools.
The Israeli military said it killed about 20 Hamas fighters and seized numerous weapons in the area of the hospital.
“During the past day, dozens of terrorists were eliminated and large quantities of weapons were confiscated,” the IDF said.
At least 1,200 people were killed in attacks by Hamas-led gunmen in Israel on October 7 last year.
In response, Israel launched a military campaign in Gaza. According to the Hamas-run Health Ministry, more than 28,400 Palestinians, mostly women and children, have been killed and more than 68,000 injured since the war began.
It added that at least 127 Palestinians were killed and 205 others injured in the past 24 hours.
“The pattern in the last few days [is] “Not really very promising, but I always repeat: we will always remain optimistic and always apply pressure,” Sheikh Mohammed said at a meeting of world leaders at the Munich Security Conference on Saturday.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he had sent negotiators at the request of US President Joe Biden, but added that they had not returned for further talks because Hamas' demands were “delusional”.
Hamas blames Israel for lack of progress in reaching a ceasefire agreement.
Mr. Netanyahu has also reiterated that the Israeli government is continuing to push its ground invasion of Gaza further south, taking the Rafah area, despite international pressure not to do so without first having a plan to evacuate Palestinian civilians living in it fled there in the first days of the war.
About 1.5 million people are staying in Rafah, near the border with Egypt, after Israeli forces told them to seek safety there while Hamas targets were attacked in northern and then central Gaza.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi reiterated his opposition to any forced relocation of Palestinians to Egypt's Sinai Desert on Saturday.
In a telephone conversation with French President Emmanuel Macron, both heads of state and government instead agreed on the “need for rapid further development of a ceasefire,” according to a summary.
Mr Sisi has long held that the only solution is an independent state for the Palestinians.
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Watch: Protesters in Tel Aviv demand Netanyahu resign
However, on Sunday, Mr. Netanyahu announced that his government had voted unanimously to formally oppose what he called “unilateral recognition” of Palestinian statehood.
He said such an agreement must be reached through direct negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians.
“Israel completely rejects international demands for a permanent agreement with the Palestinians. An agreement, should it be reached, will only be reached through direct negotiations between the sides without preconditions,” a government statement said.