Crowded corridors at Nasser Hospital in the southern Gaza Strip after it was stormed by Israeli forces
The main hospital in southern Gaza was overwhelmed with patients after Israeli troops stormed it on Thursday. According to the army, this was a search for the remains of hostages held by Hamas. (February 15)
The Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, the largest functioning medical facility in Gaza before an Israeli raid last week, is now out of operation, the World Health Organization said on Sunday.
“Nasser Hospital in #Gaza “is no longer functional after a week-long siege followed by the ongoing crackdown,” WHO Director-General said said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus in a social media post.
Tedros said WHO teams bringing in fuel were twice denied entry to the hospital as they tried to assess patients' conditions and medical needs. He added that about 200 patients were still in hospital and at least 20 needed urgent referral elsewhere.
Khan Younis in the south of the Gaza Strip has been the focus of the Israeli offensive for weeks as a Hamas hub. Israeli forces said they arrested more than 100 militants, including 20 involved in the Oct. 7 attacks that sparked the Hamas-Israel war, in a raid that began Thursday to search for the remains of to look for hostages.
The Hamas-run Ministry of Health in the Gaza Strip said that 70 medical personnel were among those arrested, leaving only four to care for patients, and that patients were also being held in hospital beds. Eleven patients died due to the loss of power and oxygen caused by the cleaning, the BBC reported.
Tedros warned of more deaths if people with urgent needs do not receive the right care. “The cost of delays is borne by patients’ lives,” he said.
Developments:
∎ At least 18 people in Gaza were killed by Israeli attacks on Sunday night, including six in the southern city of Rafah – including a woman and three children – and seven in Gaza City in the north.
∎ US Central Command said On Saturday, it struck five Houthi targets, including three anti-ship cruise missiles, a submarine drone and a maritime drone, after concluding that “they posed an imminent threat to U.S. Navy ships and merchant vessels in the region”.
∎ Israeli swimmer Anastasia Gorbenko was booed by a section of the crowd on Sunday after she won the silver medal in the 400-meter individual medley at the World Championships in Doha, Qatar.
The US said it would again veto a draft UN Security Council resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, saying it runs counter to efforts to find a lasting solution to the Israel-Hamas conflict.
The draft “will not be adopted,” said U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield, referring to the request from Algeria, the Arab representative on the Security Council.
“It is critical that other parties give this process the best chance of success, rather than pushing actions that jeopardize it – and the possibility of a lasting settlement of hostilities,” she said.
The United States, Qatar and Egypt have been trying for weeks to negotiate a ceasefire that would free the more than 100 remaining hostages in Gaza, but they face unrelenting demands from both Israel and Hamas. On Sunday, Israel's cabinet adopted a statement saying the country “categorically rejects international decrees on a permanent agreement with the Palestinians” and rejects any unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state.
Contribution: The Associated Press