Israel and Hamas at war, day 133 | Concern grows for large hospital occupied by Israel in Gaza

Concern grew on Saturday for the patients stuck in the Nasser hospital in Khan Younès, in Gaza, stormed by the Israeli army which claimed to have found weapons and “terrorists” there, with Hamas denouncing the deaths of several patients.

According to the Health Ministry of Hamas, the Palestinian Islamist movement in power in Gaza, five patients died due to power cuts which caused the cessation of the distribution of oxygen after the assault by Israeli troops.

The ministry added that it feared for the lives of seven other patients, and held Israeli forces “responsible” for the deaths.

According to him, five medical teams caring for 120 patients are still in a hospital building without electricity, water, food and oxygen, and the Israeli army is preventing the evacuation of patients in critical condition.

On Friday evening, the Israeli army said on its Telegram account that it had discovered mortar shells, grenades and other weapons belonging to Hamas, and captured “dozens” of suspects in the hospital, including “more than 20 terrorists having participated in the massacre of October 7.

That day, Hamas commandos infiltrated from Gaza killed more than 1,160 people in Israel, the majority civilians, according to an AFP count based on official Israeli data.

Israel has vowed to annihilate Hamas, in power in Gaza since 2007, in retaliation, which it considers a terrorist organization along with the United States and the European Union. The Israeli offensive in Gaza has left 28,775 dead, the vast majority civilians, according to the Hamas Ministry of Health.

According to Israel, 130 hostages are still held in Gaza, 30 of whom are believed to have died, out of around 250 people kidnapped on its territory on October 7.

Untenable situation

The Israeli army said Friday that its troops had found medicines with the names of hostages written on them in the Nasser hospital.

She also said she repaired the hospital’s generator, which she denies having targeted, and installed a second emergency one. She also said all vital systems at the facility continued to function.

But doctors described an untenable situation in this hospital, located in a city transformed into a field of ruins and surrounded by fighting, and where thousands of displaced people had taken refuge.

Doctors Without Borders announced that its employees had “had to flee, leaving the sick behind.”

“The situation was chaotic, catastrophic,” Christopher Lockyear, MSF secretary general, told AFP.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the Nasser hospital, one of eleven that remain open out of the 36 in the Gaza Strip before the war, is now “barely functional”.

“More damage to the hospital means more lives lost,” declared WHO spokesperson Tarik Jasarevic during a press briefing on Friday in Geneva, demanding urgent access to the WHO at the hospital complex.

“Patients, health workers and civilians seeking refuge in hospitals deserve safety and not burial in these places designed to heal,” he added.

Meanwhile, the international community is increasing its calls to dissuade Israel from launching an offensive in the overcrowded city of Rafah, where nearly a million and a half civilians are trapped against the closed border with Egypt.

The European Union said on Friday it was “very concerned” by this prospect, and urged Israel “not to undertake military action in Rafah which would worsen an already catastrophic humanitarian situation”.

Giant camp in Egypt

American President Joe Biden, for his part, called for “a temporary ceasefire” in the Gaza Strip. “I hope that in the meantime, the Israelis will not carry out a massive ground invasion,” he added.

According to Wall Street Journalciting Egyptian officials, Egypt is building a safe zone surrounded by a wall in the Sinai Peninsula to accommodate Palestinians from Gaza.

This camp is part of the “contingency plans” for the reception of these refugees in the event of an Israeli assault on Rafah and could shelter “more than 100,000 people”, according to the American daily.

Palestinian leaders, the UN and many countries have expressed alarm at the catastrophic consequences for the population of such an offensive and denounce the creation of a new generation of refugees with no prospect of return.

But the head of Israeli diplomacy reiterated his country’s determination to hunt down Hamas.

“If (Hamas leader in Gaza Yahia) Sinouar and the Hamas murderers think they can find refuge in Rafah, that will not happen,” he assured. “We will provide civilians with safe areas to go to and we will deal with Hamas.”