RAFAH: Gaza’s largest functioning hospital was under siege by Israel’s war with Hamas on Friday, leaving patients and doctors helpless in the chaos as warplanes pounded Rafah, the last refuge for Palestinians in the enclave, officials said.
Israeli forces remained at Nasser Hospital in the city of Khan Younis after taking it out early Thursday morning. Gaza’s health ministry said five intensive care patients died on Friday due to power outages and lack of oxygen caused by the attack.
Israel said it moved into the hospital because Hamas militants were hiding there. Israel’s military said on Friday that its troops detained more than 20 militants involved in the Oct. 7 attacks on Israel and dozens more in hospital for questioning. Hamas denies there are militants in the hospital, describing the claims as “lies aimed at covering up the destruction of hospitals”.
Gaza’s health ministry said the hospital lost power and was left without electricity on Friday, putting patient care at risk. However, the Israeli military said it repaired one generator and provided another, ensuring “all vital systems continue to operate”.
Two pregnant women gave birth on Friday “under difficult conditions – no water, no food and no possibility of warmth” in cold weather, ministry spokesman Ashraf Al-Qidra said.
The ministry said Israeli forces at Nasser Hospital forced women and children into the maternity ward, which it had turned into a military area. Women were not allowed to take any of their belongings.
According to the ministry, Israeli soldiers stopped an aid convoy outside the hospital that was unable to deliver supplies. The army said it was providing aid including baby food and water.
The invasion of the hospital raised alarm about the patients, health workers and displaced Palestinians sheltering there.
“There are still critically injured and sick patients in the hospital,” said Tarik Jasarevic, a spokesman for the World Health Organization (WHO), which said its staff were trying to reach the hospital after the Israeli airstrike.
“There is an urgent need to supply fuel to ensure the continued delivery of emergency services.”
About 10,000 people sought shelter at the hospital earlier this week, but many left either in anticipation of an Israeli airstrike or because of an Israeli order to evacuate, Gaza’s health ministry said.
Israel said its troops found ammunition and weapons at the hospital, as well as medicine bearing the names of some of the hostages.
At least two freed Israeli hostages said they were being held in Nasser, which Hamas denied.
The war began when Iran-backed Hamas sent fighters into Israel on October 7, killing 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking 253 hostages, according to Israeli records.
Israel’s air and ground offensive has since devastated much of Gaza, killing 28,775 people, mostly civilians, according to Palestinian health authorities, and driving nearly all of its more than 2 million residents from their homes.
International fears are growing that the humanitarian crisis in Gaza could worsen sharply if the Israeli army decides to attack the southern border town of Rafah, where more than half of the population of the densely populated enclave are sheltering in anticipation of a major attack.
An Israeli air strike hit two houses in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on Friday, killing ten people and wounding several others, medics said.
Rida Sobh, who is mourning the death of her sister in one of the attacks in Rafah, said the house was completely destroyed in the midnight attack, which also killed all her sister’s children, her aunt, husband and cousin.
“Rafah is not safe. Everywhere in the Gaza Strip is a target. Don’t say Rafah is safe. From Beit Hanoun to Rafah, everything is dangerous.”
