Israel continues siege of Nasser hospital in Gaza
Gaza, Palestine - Doctors Without Borders (MSF) on Wednesday voiced deep concern on the situation in the Nasser hospital in Khan Younis, south of the Gaza Strip, as the Israeli army continues its siege and shelling of the health facility.
“We are very worried about the situation unfolding at Nasser hospital in Khan Younis,” said MSF in a statement on X.
It called on the Israeli army ‘to ensure that all medical staff, patients and displaced people are unharmed’.
MSF added that the Israeli army ordered all displaced people inside the hospital to evacuate it, while only allowing medical staff and patients to stay ‘with a limit of one caretaker per patient’.
“People are afraid to leave the hospital because they hear reports of people being shot at. Those who wish to leave must be granted safe passage out,” MSF concluded.
On Tuesday, the Health Ministry in Gaza said a number of Palestinians were killed by the Israeli army while trying to exit the Nasser hospital.
The Hamas group, for its part, also warned that the Israeli army ‘intends to commit a crime’ against those inside the hospital.
On Sunday, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) said it was deeply concerned about the situation in and around the Nasser hospital in the Gaza Strip, which has been surrounded by Israeli forces.
“We’re deeply concerned about the safety of patients and health personnel due to the intensifying hostilities in the vicinity of the hospital. We repeat: health MUST be protected at all times,” Tedros Ghebreyesus said on X, reiterating his call for a cease-fire.
Death toll in Gaza jumps to 28,576
The Palestinian death toll from Israel’s deadly offensive against the Gaza Strip jumped to 28,576 since October 7, the Health Ministry in Gaza said on Wednesday.
The Gaza-based Health Ministry made the statement as the Israeli deadly onslaught against Gaza enters its 131st day.
It also said 68,291 other people have also been injured in the ongoing onslaught.
The statement noted that in the past 24 hours, the Israeli army committed 11 massacres across the Gaza Strip which left 103 people killed and 145 others injured. “Many people are still trapped under rubble and on the roads and rescuers can’t reach them,” it added.
Israel has pounded the Gaza Strip since a cross-border attack by Palestinian group Hamas in October, in which nearly 1,200 Israelis are believed to have been killed.
The Israeli war on Gaza has pushed 85 per cent of the territory’s population into internal displacement amid acute shortages of food, clean water, and medicine, while 60 per cent of the enclave’s infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.
Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, which in an interim ruling in January ordered Tel Aviv to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.
Meanwhile, families of Israeli captives held in Gaza departed for The Hague to lodge a case against the Palestinian Hamas group at the International Criminal Court (ICC).
According to the Israeli public broadcaster KAN, the Israeli delegation, comprising 100 representatives of the families, will file the complaint, and is expected to hold a news conference near the court in The Hague.