WHO chief warns of collapse of a clinic in embattled Khan Yunis

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People in the corridors in Nasser Hospital

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Ismael Mohamad / IMAGO / UPI Photo

The head of the World Health Organization (WHO) has warned of a collapse of a clinic in the city of Khan Yunis, which is contested between Israeli forces and the Islamist terrorist organization Hamas. Nasser Hospital was running out of fuel, food and supplies, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus wrote on the online platform X (formerly Twitter) on Saturday night.

Hundreds of patients and hospital staff have fled because of the fighting, and supplies are “difficult” to deliver. According to him, there are currently 350 patients and 5,000 displaced people in the clinic.

The aid organization Doctors Without Borders said essential medical care at Nasser Hospital had collapsed. The clinic is the largest functioning health facility in the Gaza Strip.

Israel's army recently attacked dozens of Hamas positions in Khan Yunis. The Israeli ground offensive is a response to the October 7 massacre in which the Islamist terrorist organization brutally killed 1,200 people in the Israeli border area and abducted approximately 250 hostages to the Gaza Strip.

Khan Yunis is the largest city in the south of the Gaza Strip and is considered a Hamas stronghold. Israel suspects that the leadership of the terrorist organization as well as Israeli hostages are in the tunnel network in the area. The military had previously announced that in order to ensure the operation of the Nasser Clinic and the Amal Hospital in Khan Yunis, it was in contact with their directors and the medical staff on site.

In view of the fierce fighting in the south of the Gaza Strip, international pressure is growing on Israel to show more consideration for the civilian population in the military operation against Hamas. Federal Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (Greens), for example, urged Israel to show restraint.

Meanwhile, the International Court of Justice in The Hague (ICJ) obliged Israel in a first decision to prevent genocide. However, Israel does not have to immediately stop its military operation in the Gaza Strip, as the plaintiff South Africa demanded before the UN court.

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