WHO says 32 patients evacuated from ‘no longer functional’ Nasser Hospital in Gaza
UN health agency says 130 sick and injured patients and at least 15 doctors and nurses remain in medical center where Israel found medicines sent for Hamas hostages
The World Health Organization said Tuesday it had transferred 32 patients out of Nasser Hospital in southern Gaza but feared for the patients and medics still inside as fighting raged in the area.
WHO staff said conditions around the hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis were “indescribable.”
Israeli troops entered Nasser Hospital on Thursday, with the Israel Defense Forces saying it had “credible intelligence” that hostages abducted by Palestinian terrorists in Hamas’s devastating October 7 assault had been held there, and that the bodies of some captives may still be inside. The IDF said at the time it was working to ensure the hospital could continue to operate and has since reported on activities to repair damaged electric power supplies.
After being denied access on Friday and Saturday, the WHO said it led two life-saving missions to transfer 32 critical patients, including two children, from Nasser Medical Complex on Sunday and Monday.
The missions also provided small supplies of essential medicines and food for the remaining patients and staff.
The transferred patients were moved to other hospitals and field hospitals in the Gaza Strip.
After two days of being denied entry into the Nasser Medical Complex in #Gaza, yesterday @WHO and partners were allowed to go inside to assess the patients. As a result, lifesaving medical referral of 14 critical patients was facilitated. Two patients needed continuous manual… pic.twitter.com/7iS65vG61y
— Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (@DrTedros) February 19, 2024
“The dismantling and degradation of the Nasser Medical Complex is a massive blow to Gaza’s health system,” the WHO said in a statement.
“Nasser Hospital has no electricity or running water, and medical waste and garbage are creating a breeding ground for disease,” the UN health agency said. “WHO staff said the destruction around the hospital was ‘indescribable.’ The area was surrounded by burnt and destroyed buildings, heavy layers of debris, with no stretch of intact road.”
It said an estimated 130 sick and injured patients and at least 15 doctors and nurses remain in the hospital.
The intensive care unit was no longer functioning and WHO staff transferred the only remaining ICU patient to a different part of the complex where others are receiving basic care.
“WHO fears for the safety and well-being of the patients and health workers remaining in the hospital and warns that further disruption to life-saving care for the sick and injured would lead to more deaths,” it said.
The IDF says it detained about 200 suspects at the hospital, and found medicines there that had been sent for hostages but were never delivered to them, as well as vehicles stolen from Israel on October 7.
Israel said some of the terror operatives detained at the hospital were dressed up as hospital staff, and that released hostages said they were held at the hospital and indicated that the bodies of hostages could still be there.
The war started when Palestinian terror group Hamas launched its unprecedented attack on October 7 that killed 1,200 people in Israel, mostly civilians. Terrorists also abducted 253 people of all ages who were taken as hostages to Gaza.
Israel responded with a military campaign, including a ground offensive, to destroy Hamas and topple it from power in Gaza. The IDF offensive is also tasked with freeing the hostages of whom 130 remain in captivity.
The two sides gave conflicting accounts of the situation at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, Gaza’s second-largest, with Israel denying an assertion by the Gaza ministry’s spokesperson that its forces had detained the hospital director.
For weeks, Israel has concentrated its military operations in Khan Younis.
Nasser Hospital is the latest health facility to become a theater of war in the conflict, now in its fifth month. Israel has provided evidence that Hamas, the Islamist terror group that has run Gaza since 2007, uses hospitals as cover for its military activities, making the medical sites legitimate targets. Hamas denies operating out of hospitals and says Israel’s allegations serve as a pretext to destroy the healthcare system.
Ashraf Al-Qidra, spokesperson for the Gaza health ministry, told Reuters on Monday that Israeli forces had detained 70 staff and volunteers at the hospital, including its director, Dr. Nahed Abu Taeema.
An Israeli army spokesperson denied that Abu Taeema had been detained but gave no immediate comment on 70 other arrests.
“IDF (Israel Defense Forces) troops conducted activities against terror infrastructure and terrorist operatives at Nasser Hospital,” the spokesperson said.
“In addition, the IDF operated in cooperation with the hospital director and the medical team in order to enable the continued functioning of the hospital. The troops also engaged in a dialogue with the director a few days ago.”
Reuters attempted to call Abu Taeema, using a telephone number that previously worked. It rang several times, then cut off.
The WHO statement Tuesday about the transfer of patients from the hospital made no mention of staff being detained by the IDF.
COGAT, an Israeli Defense Ministry liaison agency involved in coordinating aid deliveries to Gaza, said on social media platform X on Monday that Nasser Hospital had remained functional at all times during the army’s operations.
“We facilitated humanitarian aid and supplies to the hospital and coordinated a @UN team to evacuate the patients,” COGAT said.
The agency described the Israeli army’s actions as “a precise activity against the Hamas terror organization at Nasser Hospital, with a key objective to ensure that Nasser hospital continues its operations.”
It listed items it said had been delivered to the hospital with its help, though it did not say when the deliveries had taken place. The items included a tanker carrying 24,500 liters of diesel fuel, supplies of food and drinking water, a replacement generator, and medicines donated by the WHO.
Local and UN health officials previously said the hospital was losing the ability to function because of fighting within its premises, shortages of fuel, and a dearth of essential supplies.
