There have been scenes of chaos and panic at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis as Israeli forces stormed the medical center in the southern Gaza Strip and Palestinians attempted to evacuate.
The Israeli military has laid siege to the facility for weeks, isolating thousands of patients, medical staff and displaced families, many of whom remain trapped inside. Verified video footage showed that those who tried to flee on Thursday were attacked after leaving the hospital.
Gaza Health Ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qudra said Israeli troops were forcing 95 doctors, 191 patients and 165 displaced people into an old medical center building in “harsh conditions” without water, food or supplies. milk for children.
“The Nasser Medical Complex is witnessing a catastrophic and worrying situation due to declining medical capacity as fuel will run out in the next 24 hours, directly threatening the lives of patients, including six on ventilators in intensive care and three children in intensive care. incubators,” al-Qudra said in a statement.
The Israeli military accused Hamas of using the medical complex to hold captives, but has provided no evidence for that claim. The Palestinian group, which rules Gaza, has vehemently denied this.
The raid has displaced patients and medical workers who spoke of terrifying and grueling conditions.
“I went with my husband, who is blind. He was doing kidney dialysis. They destroyed the walls around us as well as the doctor's room. They ordered us to leave and they shot at us, dropped bombs and rockets on our heads from above,” patient Rasmeya Saleem Abu Jamoos told Al Jazeera.
“They demolished the building. We walked out the door and walked through the sewage with my husband. Then the Israelis took my husband and I lost my two suitcases. I can’t find them,” he said.
The Israeli military, which used drones and loudspeakers to tell people to leave Nasser Hospital, said it had opened “a safe route” to allow civilians to leave while doctors and patients could remain inside.
However, witnesses and the medical NGO Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said those sheltering inside were afraid to leave after reports that people had been shot while leaving. The Israeli army also shot at people inside the hospital, including a doctor and a nurse.
MSF described a “chaotic situation” at the hospital after it was bombed early on Thursday.
“Our medical staff have had to flee the hospital, leaving patients behind,” MSF said in X. It said one of its employees is missing and another was detained by Israeli forces.
🔴 Gaza Update:
The Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, Gaza, was bombed in the early hours of this morning, even though Israeli forces had told medical staff and patients that they could remain in the facility.
Thousands of displaced people were ordered to evacuate on February 13…🧵
— MSF International (@MSF) February 15, 2024
The Israeli military damaged two ambulances at the medical compound on Thursday, the Health Ministry said. Israeli soldiers also broke into the maternity ward and were “sweeping” the area, he added.
Israeli soldiers “threatened those inside with direct killing and shooting,” the ministry said.
Ahmed al-Moghrabi, head of plastic surgery at Nasser Hospital, recorded a message from inside the facility when evacuation orders came from Israel.
“[The Israeli army] He sent a hostage in handcuffs to the hospital, asking him to tell us to evacuate. And when people started evacuating, they opened fire, shot at people and also killed the hostage,” he said.
Speaking to Al Jazeera on Wednesday night, he said thousands of people, including critically ill patients, are being delayed at Israeli checkpoints as they try to flee the area. He also described the situation at the hospital as “dangerous.”
Nasser Hospital, the largest health center in southern Gaza, has been under siege for about three weeks. The bodies of several people killed by Israeli sniper fire at the hospital compound have been lying on the ground for days because it is too unsafe for staff to reach them.
Israeli forces across the Gaza Strip have repeatedly besieged and raided hospitals, alleging that the facilities are being used as command centers by Hamas fighters.
Hamas denies the accusation and the Israeli military has shown no concrete evidence of such command centers.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has described Nasser Hospital as a critical “Gaza-wide” facility, where only a minority of hospitals are even partially operational.
WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Wednesday he was “alarmed” by reports from Nasser Hospital, which he described as the “backbone of the health system in southern Gaza.”
In October, in the first 36 hours of the attack on Gaza, Israel attacked the Nasser Hospital, as well as the Indonesian Hospital and Al-Quds Hospital, killing dozens of health workers. By the end of November, 30 of Gaza's 36 hospitals had been hit by Israeli rockets. Currently, only six of Gaza's hospitals remain partially operational.
Gaza's Health Ministry said at least 28,663 people have been killed in Israel's attacks since October 7 and at least 68,395 have been wounded.
Israel began the assault on Gaza after Hamas fighters from the territory led attacks on southern Israel, killing at least 1,139 people, according to an Al Jazeera tally based on official Israeli figures.
