WHO Director announced on Sunday that the Nasser Medical Complex is out of service due to the Israeli siege, as Israel’s systematic attack on Gaza’s hospitals continues.
The Director-General of the World Health Organization said on Sunday that the Nasser Medical Complex, in the southern city of Khan Yunis, is not functional anymore, stressing the urgent need for access to patients and medical facilities.
“Nasser hospital in Gaza is not functional anymore, after a weeklong siege followed by the ongoing raid,” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus wrote on X.
Nasser hospital in #Gaza is not functional anymore, after a weeklong siege followed by the ongoing raid.
Both yesterday and the day before, the @WHO team was not permitted to enter the hospital to assess the conditions of the patients and critical medical needs, despite…
— Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (@DrTedros) February 18, 2024
“Both yesterday and the day before, the WHO team was not permitted to enter the hospital to assess the conditions of the patients and critical medical needs, despite reaching the hospital compound to deliver fuel alongside partners,” he continued, adding:
“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.”
“The cost of delays will be paid by patients’ lives,” Tedros stressed, calling for facilitating access to the patients and hospitals.
The Israeli army stormed the Nasser Medical Complex on Thursday, forcing everybody to evacuate. A small medical team stayed in the facility to take care of patients in critical condition.
Israeli tanks target a home in front of Al Amal hospital in Khan Younis. pic.twitter.com/rOrPMBY8R6
— Eye on Palestine (@EyeonPalestine) February 17, 2024
Al-Amal Hospital
Meanwhile, the Palestinian Red Crescent Society said on Sunday that the Israeli occupation forces have targeted the third floor of the Al-Amal Hospital in Khan Yunis with artillery shelling.
The vicinity of Al-Amal Hospital has also been subjected to intense Israeli shelling causing material damage to the building, PRCS said in a statement.
The Al-Amal Hospital, affiliated with PRCS, has experienced repeated attacks by the Israeli occupation for several weeks, resulting in the killing of dozens of Palestinians, including patients and displaced individuals.
The Israeli occupation continues its siege of the hospital for the 27th consecutive day, with tanks stationed in front of the hospital building for two weeks.
According to the statement, the Israeli occupation forces are preventing the entry of food, medical supplies, and fuel to the hospital, threatening a humanitarian catastrophe and the cessation of the hospital’s operations.
IOF soldiers detain Dr. 'Atef Al-Hout, Director of Nasser Hospital in Khan-Younis, during the ongoing violent raid by the Israeli occupation pic.twitter.com/DIGxCSbmgE
— TIMES OF GAZA (@Timesofgaza) February 18, 2024
Israel’s Genocide Continues
According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, 28,858 Palestinians have been killed, and 68,677 wounded in Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza starting on October 7.
Moreover, at least 7,000 people are unaccounted for, presumed dead under the rubble of their homes throughout the Strip.
Palestinian and international organizations say that the majority of those killed and wounded are women and children.
The Israeli aggression has also resulted in the forceful displacement of nearly two million people from all over the Gaza Strip, with the vast majority of the displaced forced into the densely crowded southern city of Rafah near the border with Egypt – in what has become Palestine’s largest mass exodus since the 1948 Nakba.
(PC, WAFA)
