Two hospitals in South Gaza are barely functioning anymore

An Israeli raid last week reduced one of Gaza's largest hospitals to little more than a shelter for a small, terrified group of patients and medical staff, while health officials warned on Monday that food and fuel supplies were running low at another hospital that was suffering greatly had had. an almost months-long siege in the same city, Khan Younis.

Israel says it is rooting out Hamas' activities at medical centers that Hamas says it has used to conceal military operations — accusations it has made about several hospitals in Gaza, backing some claims with evidence from Hamas tunnels. Hamas and health officials deny these accusations, and aid groups have called on Israel to respect international laws that protect hospitals from attacks.

It was not possible to verify the statements of the Israeli army or the Ministry of Health.

Fourteen patients were evacuated at the Nasser Medical Complex, Gaza's second largest hospital, on Sunday during a United Nations mission, the World Health Organization said. Eighteen more people were evacuated on Monday, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent. The United Nations said negotiations were continuing for the Israeli military to evacuate the remaining patients – more than 150 according to the World Health Organization.

The exodus was prompted by a raid on Thursday by Israeli forces who entered the hospital and arrested hundreds of people, including some who Israel said had taken part in the October 7 Hamas-led attack on Israel. Thousands of displaced Palestinians sheltering there were evacuated before and during the raid.

The remaining patients are cared for by 15 health workers, with no tap water, little food and oxygen, few medical supplies and no electricity except a backup generator that maintains life-saving equipment, the WHO said. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Sunday that Nasser was no longer functional.

The Health Ministry in Gaza said Israeli forces had arrested 70 medical staff, including the director of surgery, and that eight patients in Nasser had died from lack of oxygen.

Israel has emphasized that it raided the hospital to stop Hamas' activities. It said that, in addition to detaining the people it accused of taking part in the Oct. 7 attack, it had discovered weapons in 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, Al-Amal, was “very dangerous” after 28 days of siege, with food running low and fuel for life-saving equipment running low. It said the hospital had been repeatedly attacked and shelled by Israeli forces on Sunday, and that Israeli forces had arrested 12 medical and administrative staff.

An Israeli military spokesman referred a request for comment on Al-Amal to the Israeli agency overseeing relations with Gaza, which did not immediately comment.

On Monday, Nebal Farsakh, a Red Crescent spokeswoman, said the Israeli army had bombed the area around Al-Amal several times, damaging the hospital building and frightening those inside. She said Israeli forces fired on the hospital's water desalination station, disabling it and leaving Al-Amal with less than three days' supply of drinking water. There are about 180 people inside, including patients, medical staff and displaced people, she said.

Video posted by the Red Crescent on social media Monday, people in the group's uniforms were seen moving through the darkened hospital, using flashlights as they walked past beds in the hallways. In another video on Instagram On Sunday, a young man in medical gear described conditions at the hospital and said Al-Amal had been under siege for so long that he had stopped counting.

“Our biggest dream is to just be able to stand by the windows. To see the sun and the streets. But unfortunately we cannot do that,” said the man, Saleem Aburas, whose Instagram account identifies him as an aid coordinator at the Red Crescent. “Because standing by the window means death. The occupation snipers shoot at everything that moves in the hospital.”

Eight times in a row, the Red Crescent said on Sunday, aid groups had asked Israeli forces for safe passage to deliver food, medical supplies, fuel and generator fuel to Al-Amal. Eight times, it said, they had failed to get that guarantee.

The condition of the two hospitals worsened an already dire situation for the area's healthcare system, which the United Nations and aid agencies say is collapsing following Israel's repeated attacks on hospitals.

Nada Rashwan And Ameera Harouda reporting contributed.