An Israeli raid last week reduced one of Gaza’s largest hospitals to little more than a shelter for a small, terrified crew of patients and medical staff, while health officials warned on Monday that food and fuel supplies were nearly exhausted at another hospital that has endured. an almost month-long siege of the same city, Khan Younis.
Israel says it is rooting out Hamas activity at the medical centers, which it says Hamas has used to hide military operations — accusations it has made about several hospitals in Gaza, backing up some claims with evidence of Hamas tunnels. Hamas and health officials deny the accusations, and aid groups have called on Israel to respect international laws that protect hospitals from attack.
It was not possible to verify the statements made by either the Israeli army or the Ministry of Health.
At the Nasser Medical Complex, Gaza’s second largest hospital, 14 patients were evacuated by a United Nations mission on Sunday, the World Health Organization said. The Palestinian Red Crescent Society said another 18 were evacuated on Monday. The United Nations said negotiations were continuing for the Israeli military to allow the evacuation of the remaining patients – who number more than 150, according to the World Health Organization.
The exodus was prompted by a raid on Thursday by Israeli troops who entered the hospital and arrested what Israel said were hundreds of people, including some it said were involved in the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel. Thousands of displaced Palestinians who had taken refuge there were turned away before and during the raid.
The remaining patients are being cared for by 15 health care workers, with no running water, little food and oxygen, few medical supplies and no electricity except for a backup generator that maintains some life-saving equipment, the WHO said. WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Sunday that Nasser was no longer functional.
Gaza’s health ministry said Israeli forces arrested 70 medical staff, including the director of surgery, and that eight patients died in Nasser due to lack of oxygen.
Israel stressed that it raided the hospital to stop Hamas activity. He said that, along with arresting the people he accused of being involved in the October 7 attack, he had discovered weapons at the medical complex and evidence linked to the attack.
The Red Crescent said on Monday that the situation at the other hospital in Khan Younis, in Al-Amal, was “extremely dangerous” after 28 days of siege, with food running low and fuel running low. It said the hospital had been repeatedly attacked and shelled by Israeli forces on Sunday, and that Israeli troops arrested 12 medical and administrative staff.
An Israeli military spokesman referred a request for comment about Al-Amal to Israel’s agency that oversees relations with Gaza, which did not immediately comment.
On Monday, Nebal Farsakh, a spokeswoman for the Red Crescent, said the Israeli army shelled the area around Al-Amal several times, damaging the hospital building and terrorizing those inside. He said Israeli troops shot at the hospital’s water desalination plant, disabling it and leaving Al-Amal with less than three days of drinking water. About 180 people are inside, including patients, medical staff and evacuees, he said.
Video posted by Red Crescent on social media on Monday showed people in team uniforms moving around the darkened hospital, using flashlights as they passed beds in corridors. In another video posted on Instagram on Sunday, a young man in medical scrubs described conditions at the hospital, saying Al-Amal had been under siege for so long he had stopped counting.
“Our biggest dream is to be able to stand next to the windows. To see the sun, the streets. But, unfortunately, we cannot do that,” said the man, Saleem Aburas, whose Instagram account identifies him as an aid coordinator with the Red Crescent. “Because standing by the window means death. The snipers of the occupation are shooting anything that moves inside the hospital.”
Eight times in a row, the Red Crescent said on Sunday, aid groups have asked Israeli forces for safe passage to deliver food, medical supplies, fuel and generator fuel to Al-Amal. Eight times, he said, they had not received that guarantee.
The condition of the two hospitals compounded an already dire situation for the territory’s health system, which the United Nations and aid groups have said is collapsing after repeated Israeli attacks on hospitals.
Nada Rashwan and Amera Harouda contributed to the report.
