Heavy unprecedented assault by the Israeli army has been taking place in and around two key hospitals in Gaza on Thursday, while a third was reportedly under Israeli siege, amid mounting international concern for the safety of patients, civilians, and remaining medical staff in the facilities.
The most intense attack by Israeli forces once again appeared to be focused on the al-Shifa medical complex, where the Israeli army said it continued to operate around the site after storming it more than a week ago.
So far, the Israeli army has killed about 200 Palestinians in the vicinity of al-Shifa Hospital and arrested over 800 who have been sheltering there since the start of the operation, bringing harm to civilians, patients, medical teams, and medical equipment.
Gaza Health Ministry said wounded people and patients were being held by the army inside an administration building in al-Shifa that was not equipped to provide them with healthcare, adding that five patients had died since the Israeli raid because of shortages of food, water, and medical care.
Israeli tanks and armored vehicles had also massed around Nasser hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis, the Gaza health ministry said, adding that the army showered the place with heavy shots but no raid had yet been launched or declared.
The Red Crescent said thousands of people were trapped inside.
Israeli forces were also blockading al-Amal hospital in Khan Younis, and several other areas in the city had come under Israeli fire, residents said.
The Palestinian Red Crescent (PRC) said seven people working for the organization were arrested in a military raid on al-Amal hospital on 17 February. Among them was the director of ambulance and emergency services in the Gaza Strip, Mohammed Abu Musabeh, the PRC said in a statement.
The World Health Organization said al-Amal hospital had ceased to function as a result of the Israeli assault, leaving only 10 of 36 hospitals in the Gaza Strip partly operational.
The WHO’s director general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, wrote on X on Thursday: “Once more, WHO demands an immediate end to attacks on hospitals in Gaza, and calls for protection of health staff, patients, and civilians.”
The UN reported late on Wednesday that famine was “ever closer to becoming a reality in northern Gaza” and that the territory’s health system was collapsing owing to the continuing hostilities and “access constraints”
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