Israeli soldiers stormed the Naser Hospital in Khan Younis, in the south of the Gaza Strip, this Thursday and forced some of the people who were still inside to leave it, denounced the Gaza Ministry of Health, controlled by Hamas, and confirmed the Israeli army. Israel reported that its special forces are operating inside the hospital because they have information that there are hostage bodies in the facility.
“We have credible information from various sources, including released hostages, indicating that Hamas is holding hostages at the Naser hospital in Khan Younis and that there may be bodies of our hostages on the hospital premises,” a military statement said.
Moments before the Israeli confirmation, the Gaza health authorities stated: “The Israeli occupation attacks the Naser Medical Complex and turns it into a military barracks after demolishing its southern wall,” reported Health spokesman Ashraf Al Qudra, who added that The army also attacked the ambulance department and IDP tents in the medical compound. “At dawn today and under bombardment,” the soldiers “forcibly” imposed the evacuation of part of the displaced people and relatives of the medical personnel who remained in the center, he indicated.
They also ordered medical teams to transfer all patients, “including those in intensive care and pediatrics”, to move to a specific hospital building, an almost impossible task for six patients who require assisted breathing. Hours earlier, in the middle of the siege of the center, a Palestinian was killed and several were injured in an Israeli attack on a room full of patients. Images spread on social networks show medical personnel transporting injured people in a room full of smoke, destruction and debris.
According to medical sources contacted by EFE, Israeli soldiers have occupied the second floor of the medical complex and have asked all people, including medical teams, to leave the upper floors and descend to the lower floors. The same source noted by telephone that a large number of Israeli army dogs had been released in different areas of the complex.
Doctors Without Borders (MSF), which has personnel working in the hospital center, the largest in the south of the enclave, already warned yesterday that on Tuesday the Israeli army destroyed the north gate of the hospital compound and ordered all displaced people to leave the place. , without them having a safe place to go.
For more than 25 days, the health authorities and NGOs working there have denounced the siege of Israeli forces around Naser, and last Tuesday the army ordered the evacuation of 10,000 Gazans who were taking refuge in the medical facility.
According to Health, until today some 1,500 displaced people were still in the hospital, where the situation is “catastrophic”, in addition to some 190 members of health personnel and some 300 of their relatives. Among the patients admitted, “there are 273 patients who cannot move”, 18 of whom are in intensive care and 35 on dialysis, which made their evacuation difficult due to the Israeli order.
Likewise, wastewater is flooding the emergency room and medical and non-medical waste is accumulating in the apartments and patios of the complex, according to Health. Those gathered inside the facility were also left without drinking water or food, and there were almost no drugs or medical supplies “for intensive care, operations or emergencies.”
The Naser hospital serves southern Gaza, where Israeli troops have been carrying out a ground offensive since the beginning of December, which also involved the siege of the city’s other hospital, Al Amal, where more than 8,000 people have already been evacuated. last week.
According to MSF, troops allowed medical staff and patients to remain in the hospital, “with a limit of one caregiver per patient,” while NGO staff “remain in the building and continue to treat patients in almost impossible conditions.” . “After weeks of intense fighting near the Naser hospital, medical staff, patients and displaced people found themselves trapped in the facility with very little access to basic supplies,” says MSF.
According to the NGO, “in recent days at least five people have died and another ten were injured by direct shots at the hospital.” “People were forced into an impossible situation: remain in the hospital against army orders and become potential targets or leave the facility into an apocalyptic landscape,” MSF notes of the displaced, who are “with no place to go.” go”.
