The strip’s second-largest hospital within the southern Khan Younis metropolis has many sufferers and different Palestinians sheltering.
Floor and air assaults by the Israeli forces have now rendered Gaza’s second-largest hospital nonoperational.
The besieged enclave’s Ministry of Well being and the World Well being Group (WHO) on Sunday mentioned the Nasser Hospital in southern Gaza’s Khan Younis is not functioning after a weeks-long siege that intensified this week, adopted by lethal raids.
“There are only four medical staffers currently caring for patients” contained in the hospital, ministry spokesperson Ashraf al-Qudra advised Reuters information company on Sunday.
In a submit on X, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreysus mentioned the organisation’s crew has not been permitted by the Israeli navy to enter the hospital since Friday to evaluate the situation of important sufferers and medical wants, although they reached the hospital together with companions to ship gas.
“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 mentioned, including that “the cost of delays will be paid by patients’ lives”.
Nasser hospital in #Gaza shouldn’t be useful anymore, after a weeklong siege adopted by the continued raid.
Each yesterday and the day earlier than, the @WHO crew was not permitted to enter the hospital to evaluate the circumstances of the sufferers and significant medical wants, regardless of…
— Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (@DrTedros) February 18, 2024
Previously few days, Israeli troopers had raided the hospital, the place displaced Palestinians had been additionally sheltering. The Well being Ministry on Saturday mentioned Israeli forces “arrested a large number of the directors and staff” of the hospital whereas they had been tending to the wounded.
On Friday, the ministry mentioned an assist convoy led by the United Nations was detained for seven hours and prevented from reaching the hospital.
In the meantime, al-Amal Hospital, the one different main medical facility nonetheless operational in Khan Younis, continues to be a goal of Israeli assaults. The Palestine Pink Crescent Society (PRCS) on Sunday mentioned Israeli forces focused the third ground of the hospital with artillery hearth.
The Israeli navy has expanded its siege on Khan Younis and its medical services because it pushed additional south into Rafah on the border with Egypt.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has remained adamant about an imminent floor assault on Rafah, the place greater than 1.4 million displaced Palestinians have been sheltering, making a humanitarian disaster.
“In the overnight [air] attacks on Rafah, we’ve seen the horror of displaced Palestinians trying to find shelters in the city where they were ordered to evacuate and told it would be a ‘safe zone’ only to find themselves targeted and killed inside their homes,” Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud, reporting from Rafah, mentioned on Sunday.
“On top of that, there is a lack of available medical staff and a shortage of medical supplies, which literally leaves people lying on the floors of hospitals for hours, waiting for help. Israel has put restrictions on the delivery of aid worsening the shortage.”
The UN, together with the US and different Israel allies, have mentioned they’d not settle for an invasion of Rafah however haven’t mentioned what they’d do if Israel proceeds with its “total victory” strategy.