An Israeli raid final week has diminished considered one of Gaza’s largest hospitals to little greater than a shelter for a small, terrified crew of sufferers and medical workers, whereas health officers warned on Monday that food and gasoline provides have been nearly gone at one other hospital that has endured an almost monthlong siege in the identical metropolis, Khan Younis.
Israel says it’s rooting out Hamas exercise on the medical facilities, which it says Hamas has used to cover army operations — accusations it has made about a number of hospitals in Gaza, backing up some claims with proof of Hamas tunnels. Hamas and health officers deny these costs, and support teams have known as on Israel to respect worldwide legal guidelines defending hospitals from assault.
It was not doable to confirm statements made by both the Israeli army or the health ministry.
At Nasser Medical Complex, Gaza’s second-largest hospital, 14 sufferers have been evacuated in a United Nations mission on Sunday, the World Health Organization mentioned. The Palestine Red Crescent Society mentioned 18 extra have been evacuated on Monday. The United Nations mentioned negotiations have been persevering with for the Israeli army to permit the remaining sufferers — numbering greater than 150, in response to the World Health Organization — to be evacuated.
The exodus was prompted by a raid on Thursday by Israeli troops who entered the hospital and detained what Israel mentioned was lots of of individuals, together with some it mentioned had taken half in the Hamas-led Oct. 7 assault on Israel. Thousands of displaced Palestinians sheltering there evacuated earlier than and in the course of the raid.
Caring for the remaining sufferers are 15 health care employees, with no faucet water, little food and oxygen, few medical provides and no electrical energy besides a backup generator that maintains some lifesaving tools, the W.H.O. mentioned. The W.H.O.’s director basic, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, mentioned on Sunday that Nasser was now not purposeful.
The Gaza health ministry mentioned that Israeli forces had arrested 70 medical personnel, together with the director of surgical procedure, and that eight sufferers had died at Nasser for lack of oxygen.
Israel has emphasised that it raided the hospital to cease Hamas exercise. It mentioned that, together with detaining the folks it accused of collaborating in the Oct. 7 assault, it had found weapons in the medical complicated and proof tied to the assault.
The Red Crescent mentioned on Monday that the scenario on the different hospital in Khan Younis, Al-Amal, was “highly dangerous” after 28 days of siege, with food almost exhausted and the gasoline powering lifesaving tools running low. It mentioned the hospital had been attacked repeatedly and was shelled by Israeli forces on Sunday, and that Israeli troops had arrested 12 medical and administrative workers members.
A spokesman for the Israeli army referred a request for remark about Al-Amal to Israel’s company overseeing relations with Gaza, which didn’t instantly remark.
On Monday, Nebal Farsakh, a spokeswoman for the Red Crescent, mentioned the Israeli army had bombed the world round Al-Amal a number of occasions, damaging the hospital building and terrifying these inside. She mentioned Israeli troops had shot on the hospital’s water desalination station, disabling it and leaving Al-Amal with lower than three days’ provide of ingesting water. About 180 persons are inside, together with sufferers, medical workers and displaced folks, she mentioned.
Video the Red Crescent posted on social media on Monday confirmed folks in the group’s uniforms shifting by means of the darkened hospital, utilizing flashlights as they walked previous beds in the hallways. In another video posted on Instagram on Sunday, a younger man in medical scrubs described situations on the hospital, saying Al-Amal had been underneath siege for therefore lengthy that he had stopped counting.
“Our biggest dream is to just be able to stand by the windows. To see the sun, the streets. But, unfortunately, we can’t do that,” mentioned the person, Saleem Aburas, whose Instagram account identifies him as a aid coordinator with the Red Crescent. “Because standing by the window means death. The occupation’s snipers are shooting at anything that moves inside the hospital.”
Eight occasions in a row, the Red Crescent mentioned on Sunday, support teams had asked Israeli forces for protected passage to ship food, medical provides, gasoline and generator gasoline to Al-Amal. Eight occasions, it mentioned, they’d didn’t get that assure.
The state of the 2 hospitals was compounding an already dire scenario for the territory’s health system, which the United Nations and support teams have mentioned is collapsing after Israel’s repeated assaults on hospitals.
Nada Rashwan and Ameera Harouda contributed reporting.
