Middle East crisis: Deadly rocket attack in Israel risks diplomatic efforts at Lebanon border
Israeli forces have ordered Palestinians sheltering in one of Gaza's last functioning hospitals to evacuate the complex, raising fears that troops will try to storm a facility packed with thousands of people, some of whom were shot at as they entered tried to flee. according to doctors there.
The Israeli military accused Hamas on Wednesday of carrying out military activities on the grounds of the hospital, the Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis, claiming the complex was “being used to hold hostages.”
Israel's claims could not be independently verified, but they indicated the increasing focus on the hospital as Israeli forces try to root out Hamas fighters from the southern city. Previous Israeli warnings to evacuate hospitals, including Al-Shifa, the largest in Gaza, have often preceded them military attacks on the facilities.
“We demand the immediate cessation of all military activities in the area of the hospital and the immediate departure of military officers from it,” the Israeli army said. said in a statement. It called on civilians sheltering in the hospital to leave for “safer places” in southern and central Gaza. The statement did not call for patients or medical staff to leave the hospital.
Gazans have said Israeli forces regularly fire on areas where they have ordered people to flee, leaving nowhere in the enclave safe. Adding to the terror of those in the hospital, Israeli forces shot at people trying to leave the compound, killing or wounding some, according to two doctors interviewed on Tuesday.
“The situation is very dangerous,” said Khaled Al-Serr, general surgeon at the hospital. He said that just a day earlier the Israeli army had indicated that the hospital, which had been surrounded by Israeli ground forces for weeks, was safe.
Khan Younis was at the center of Israel's invasion of southern Gaza, in which airstrikes killed hundreds of civilians and soldiers and shot people in the streets, according to the Gaza Health Ministry and Palestinian news media reports. Many Gazans who fled the Israeli military offensive in northern and central Gaza had sought shelter in Khan Younis, but were forced to flee again as Israeli forces moved deeper into the strip.
The Israeli military did not immediately respond to questions about accusations that its forces shot at those who tried to flee.
Stéphane Dujarric, a spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres, said Tuesday that “heavy fighting in Khan Younis, especially near the Nasser and Al Amal hospitals,” is endangering the safety of medical staff kept bringing.
The Israeli military says Hamas uses hospitals as fronts for its operations, a claim the group and medical officials have denied. Palestinians have sought shelter in hospitals, even as Israeli forces have regularly launched attacks on and around them and in some cases raided hospital complexes.
Nahed Abu Taeema, chief of surgery at Nasser Hospital, said explosions caused by airstrikes had moved closer to the hospital and intensified in recent days. “But we will not leave the hospital without our patients,” he said.
Many doctors and nurses, along with their relatives sheltering in the hospital, had begun packing and preparing to flee, said Dr. Al-Serr, even though the departure brought its own dangers.
There are about 8,000 people in Nasser, he said, including seriously injured patients who have injuries to their limbs and are difficult to transport.
The situation in the hospital has become increasingly dire. Israeli attacks nearby caused fires that spread to the medical equipment storage facility and the hospital's supply warehouse, leaving both almost completely engulfed in flames, said Dr. Ashraf Al-Qudra, the spokesman for the Gaza Health Ministry. Sewage has spilled into the emergency department, hampering the treatment of patients and threatening the further spread of disease, he said.
Aaron Bokserman, Rawan Sheikh Ahmad And Farnaz Fassihi reporting contributed.