Israeli forces have ordered Palestinians sheltering in one of the last functioning hospitals in Gaza to leave the compound, sparking fears that troops will attempt to storm a facility full of thousands of people, some of whom were shot as they tried to flee. according to the doctors there.
The Israeli military accused Hamas on Wednesday of conducting military activity inside the hospital’s compound, the Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis, and claimed the complex was “used to hold hostages.”
Israel’s claims could not be independently verified, but signaled an intensification of its focus on the hospital as Israeli forces try to root out Hamas militants from the southern city. Previous Israeli warnings to evacuate hospitals, including Al-Shifa, the largest in Gaza, often preceded military raids on the facilities.
“We demand the immediate cessation of all military activity in the area of the hospital and the immediate withdrawal of military personnel from it,” the Israeli army said in a statement. He called on civilians housed in the hospital to leave for “safer areas” in southern and central Gaza. The statement did not call for patients or doctors to leave the hospital.
Gazans have said Israeli forces regularly shell areas where people have been told to leave, leaving nowhere safe in the enclave. Adding to the terror of those inside the hospital, Israeli forces fired on people who tried to leave the compound, killing or wounding some, according to two doctors interviewed on Tuesday.
“The situation is very dangerous,” said Khaled Al-Serr, a general surgeon at the hospital. He said the Israeli military had signaled just a day earlier that the hospital, which has been surrounded by Israeli ground forces for weeks, was secure.
Khan Younis has been the epicenter of Israel’s invasion of southern Gaza, with airstrikes killing hundreds of civilians and soldiers shooting people in the streets, according to Gaza’s health ministry and Palestinian media. Many Gazans fleeing Israel’s military offensive in northern and central Gaza had sought refuge in Khan Younis, only to be forced to flee again as Israeli forces advanced deeper into the strip.
The Israeli military did not immediately respond to questions about the claim that its forces fired on those trying to escape.
Stéphane Dujarric, a spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, said on Tuesday that “intense fighting in Khan Younis, particularly near Nasser and Al Amal hospitals, continued to jeopardize the safety of medical personnel.
The Israeli military says Hamas uses hospitals as cover for its operations, a claim the group and medical officials have denied. Palestinians have sought refuge in hospitals, even as Israeli forces regularly launch strikes on and around them and in some cases raid hospitals.
Nahed Abu Taeema, chief of surgery at Nasser Hospital, said the explosions from airstrikes are coming closer to the hospital and have become more intense in recent days. “But we will not leave the hospital without our patients,” he said.
Many doctors and nurses, along with their family members sheltering in the hospital, had begun packing their belongings and preparing to flee, Dr. Al-Sher said, even though fleeing presented its own dangers.
There are about 8,000 people inside Nasser, he said, including severely injured patients who have limb injuries and would be difficult to transport.
The situation inside the hospital is getting more and more dire. Israeli strikes nearby caused fires that spread to the hospital’s medical equipment storage facility and supply warehouse, burning both almost to the ground, said Dr. Ashraf Al-Qudra, spokesman for Gaza’s health ministry. Sewage has flooded the emergency department, impeding treatment of patients and threatening further spread of the disease, he said.
Aaron Boxerman, Rawan Sheikh Ahmad and Farnaz Fashihi contributed to the report.
