Key Points
- The World Health Organization has urged Israel to grant its staff access to Nasser hospital.
- The Israeli military says hundreds of militants were hiding in the hospital and some had posed as medical staff.
- Hamas dismissed Israel’s allegations, saying they served as a pretext to destroy Gaza’s healthcare system.
Fighting, fuel shortages and Israeli raids have put the Gaza Strip’s second-largest hospital completely out of service, local and UN health officials say.
The Israeli military said in a statement that hundreds of militants were hiding in Nasser hospital and some had posed as medical staff.
It released images of weapons it said were found along with medications that were transferred from Israel and intended for the more than 100 hostages abducted from Israel and being held by Hamas.
“The packages of medicine that were found were sealed and had not been transferred to the hostages,” the military said.
Hamas dismisses Israeli allegations, saying they serve as a pretext to destroy the healthcare system.
Health officials said the raids had created a shortage in water and electrical power at the hospital, with its staff being reduced to just four medical teams, or 25 members total, who have remained at the premises to treat its large number of patients.
A spokesperson for the Gaza health ministry confirmed on Sunday that the hospital has stopped operating.
The lack of oxygen supply, due to electricity shortages, has led to the death of at least seven patients.
WHO denied access
The World Health Organization (WHO) has urged Israel to allow its staff members to access the hospital and assist with the situation.
Israeli troops were conducting searches on the hospital grounds for any remaining Hamas members and had blocked off its premises.
“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,” WHO head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on social media platform X.
Israel says it has found and apprehended at least 100 suspects in the Nasser Hospital and its surrounding area.
Rafah offensive
Meanwhile, Israel is continuing with its offensive in southern Gaza, where the remaining displaced Palestinians have taken refuge.
Two air attacks were carried out on Sunday in the Rafah area, according to local residents and Hamas officials.
that any unplanned military operation in Rafah could create a wave of refugees into Egypt, with over 1,5 million Palestinians now residing in the area.
However Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is now under increasing pressure at home due to his government’s inability to bring back the remaining hostages captured during the 7 October raids, has expressed his determination to push on with the offensive.
Israel has bombarded Gaza since in which more than 1,200 people, including an estimated 30 children, were killed and over 200 hostages taken, according to the Israeli government. More than 28,985 people have been killed in Gaza since 7 October, the majority of them women and children, according to the health ministry in Hamas-controlled Gaza.
The 7 October attack was a significant escalation in the long-standing conflict between Israel and Hamas.
