GAZA: The WHO said Sunday that one of the last functioning hospitals in the Gaza Strip was no longer capable of serving the dozens of patients who remain there, as a siege by the Israeli military continued.
About 20 of the 200 patients still sheltering at the Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis urgently need to be moved to other hospitals, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the head of the WHO, said on social media.A team from the UN agency was not allowed to enter the hospital on Friday or Saturday, he said.
Nasser had been the largest functioning hospital left in Gaza. The Israeli military last week ordered an evacuation of the thousands of displaced people who were sheltering at the hospital, saying Hamas was conducting military activities there and may have held hostages on its grounds. Hamas has denied the claims.
The Israeli military, which raided the hospital on Thursday, said it had detained about 100 people at Nasser hospital. A spokesman for the Gaza health ministry said Sunday that Israeli forces had detained 70 medical personnel and “dozens of patients.” Only 25 staff members were left in the complex, he said, adding that the hospital was further hobbled by water and electricity cuts.
Meanwhile, Israeli strikes across Gaza killed at least 18 people overnight into Sunday, according to medics, as the US said it would veto another draft UN ceasefire resolution. The US, Israel’s top ally, instead hopes to broker a ceasefire agreement and hostage release between Israel and Hamas.
But PM Benjamin Netanyahu has said Israel would not bow to international pressure to call off its plan for a ground invasion of Rafah, now packed with over 1 million Palestinians. “Those who want to prevent us are basically telling us: Lose the war,” he said.