Israel sends troops into ‘besieged’ Gaza hospital as medics sound alarm

AFP | Jerusalem                                                

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Israel sent troops into a hospital in war-torn Gaza yesterday where it said hostages may have been held, as medics warned the key medical facility was operating in “near impossible” conditions.

The raid came after days of intense fighting between troops and Hamas fighters around the Nasser hospital in Khan Yunis - one of the largest medical sites in southern Gaza, and one of the few hospitals that are still operational in the territory.

Israel, which has accused Hamas of using hospitals for military purposes, said it was carrying out a “precise and limited operation” at the facility with “no obligation” for patients or staff to evacuate.

Israeli army spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said there was “credible intelligence from a number of sources, including from released hostages, indicating that Hamas held hostages at the Nasser hospital in Khan Yunis and that there may be bodies of our hostages” at the hospital.

The health ministry in Gaza reported that thousands of people who had sought refuge at the hospital, including patients, have been made to leave in recent days. It has called the situation at Nasser “catastrophic”, with staff unable to move bodies to the morgue because of the risks involved.

Nurse Mohammed al-Astal told AFP this week that the facility had been “besieged” for a month and was facing deadly sniper fire, sewage in the emergency room and a lack of drinking water. Footage on social media, which AFP could not independently verify, shows rescuers trying to move patients from the hospital’s orthopaedic ward, after it was reportedly struck, to safer rooms.

Using mobile flashlights, rescuers were seen dragging a patient on a bed, while some others carried another sick person in a blanket amid fallen debris. Doctors Without Borders has said its staff there are working in “near impossible conditions”.

Critical

The World Health Organization has described Nasser hospital as a critical facility “for all of Gaza”, where only a minority of hospitals are even partly operational.

The Israeli army, citing intelligence estimates and information from the ground, said “over 85 percent of major medical facilities in Gaza have been used by Hamas for terror operations”. Roughly 130 hostages are still believed to be in Gaza after the October 7 attack on Israel by Hamas militants, which resulted in the deaths of about 1,160 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.

Dozens of the estimated 250 hostages seized during the attack were freed in exchange for Palestinian prisoners during a week-long truce in November. Israel says 29 of those still in Gaza are presumed dead.

At least 28,663 people, mostly women and children, have been killed in Israel’s assault on the Palestinian territory, according to the health ministry. Israel launched more deadly strikes on southern Gaza on Thursday, after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insisted it would push ahead with a “powerful” operation in the overcrowded city of Rafah for “complete victory”.