While the mediating countries continue their negotiations in Cairo with a view to a truce between Israel and Hamas, the Israeli army launched an assault on the Nasser hospital in Khan Younes on Thursday February 15. Here's what we know about the ongoing operation at the largest facility in the southern Gaza Strip.
Why did the army enter Nasser Hospital
?
The assault launched by the Israeli army is the culmination of a military operation underway for three weeks. The fighting gradually moved closer to the Nasser hospital until last week.
The Nasser hospital in Khan Younès, in the south of the Gaza Strip, has been the target of a military operation by the Israeli army since February 15, 2024. © Graphic Studio France Médias Monde
Before Thursday, Israeli troops, tanks and snipers surrounded Nasser Hospital. At least 23 Palestinians were killed during this time by sniper fire near or within the hospital compound, according to the United Nations humanitarian office (Ocha) – which relies on figures from the Ministry of Defense. Health of Hamas.
On February 13, the army ordered the evacuation of the establishment before entering it two days later. She announced that she was carrying out a "targeted and limited operation" in this hospital, after having received "credible information" indicating that Hamas had held hostages there "and that there may be bodies of hostages" on site. .
A freed Israeli hostage told the AP news agency in January that she and more than two dozen other captives had been held at Nasser Hospital. 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.
The Israeli army has "not yet found evidence" confirming the presence of hostages in the hospital complex, but claims to have seized "weapons, grenades and mortar shells". On Friday, she indicated that she had also arrested "more than 20 terrorists who participated" in the Hamas attacks in Israel on October 7, among "dozens of suspects" arrested in the grounds of the Nasser hospital.
The Nasser hospital in Khan Younes "is the backbone of the health system" in southern Gaza, according to the WHO. © Graphic studio France Médias Monde
For his part, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, the army's chief spokesman, said Thursday evening that troops had found grenades and mortar shells at the scene, and that Israeli radars had determined that militants had fired mortars from the hospital grounds a month ago. Claims that could not be independently confirmed.
A member of Hamas's political bureau, Izzat al-Rishq, on Friday called Israeli accusations that the Nasser hospital, like others in the territory, being used as a base by Hamas, a "lie".
Several patients dead, hundreds still there
Thousands of people – including patients – who had taken refuge in the hospital had to evacuate it, according to the Hamas Ministry of Health. Israeli army spokesperson Daniel Hagari denied on Thursday that he wanted to evacuate the establishment. “We insisted that patients and staff were not required to evacuate the hospital,” he said, referring to recent discussions with medical officials.
"My husband and my son Mohammad left on Wednesday with thousands of people but I don't know what happened to them," Jamila Zidane, a displaced person at Nasser hospital, told AFP. “We are afraid,” confided this 43-year-old woman who remained in the hospital with her six daughters.
Several hundred people are still inside in difficult conditions, according to the Hamas Ministry of Health. The encirclement of the establishment had consequences on patients and hospital staff: a person evacuated to Rafah testified to AP that the days of siege left the establishment without water or food. "There is garbage everywhere. Sewage has flooded the emergency department," added Raed Abed.
The Israeli army's assault also seems to have complicated the task of doctors on site. During their search, the troops ordered the 460 staff members, patients and their relatives to move into an older building that is not equipped to treat patients, according to the Hamas Ministry of Health .
This had fatal consequences, according to the same source, which announced Friday that five patients had died after power cuts caused the cessation of oxygen distribution in the hospital. The ministry added that it feared for the lives of nine other patients in the intensive care unit and in the nursery, and held "Israeli forces responsible for the lives of patients and teams" on site.
“Chaotic situation” and obstacles noted by the WHO and MSF
On social networks, a doctor and an NGO describe an untenable situation in the hospital. Several videos show difficult conditions, particularly during its evacuation.
Doctor Mohammed Harara notably filmed hospital corridors saturated with dust and debris after an explosion, a video in which we can also hear gunfire in the background. Le Monde also reports on another video shot by Palestinian journalist Mohammed Salama "showing patients evacuated in the chaos, after a strike on the orthopedics department, which killed one patient".
Testimonies which join those of NGOs present on site, such as Médecins sans frontières (MSF), which reported on Thursday on X of a "chaotic situation": "After the bombings this morning, our staff reported a chaotic situation, with an unknown number of dead and injured."
Following shelling this morning, our staff reported a chaotic situation, with an undetermined number of people killed and injured.
Since the attack, one of our colleagues remains unaccounted for...
— MSF International (@MSF) February 15, 2024
In another message, the NGO explained that part of its medical staff “had to flee the hospital, leaving the patients behind”. She also affirmed that one of her teams continued to work in the Nasser hospital “in almost impossible conditions”.
Furthermore, the director general of the WHO reported on Wednesday that two missions from the UN organization had been prohibited from accessing the hospital. “Nasser is the backbone of the health system in southern Gaza. He must be protected. Humanitarian access must be allowed,” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus wrote on X.
Civilians killed, orders to evacuate people seeking shelter, the northern wall demolished: I am alarmed by what is reportedly happening at Nasser Medical Complex in #Gaza after being under siege for around a week.
Hostilities have reportedly destroyed storage facilities for…
— Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (@DrTedros) February 14, 2024
Civilians who have fled the assault since Thursday had to pass through a checkpoint set up by Israeli forces to screen people leaving the Nasser hospital. Several people were arrested, including an MSF collaborator, the NGO reported.
On Thursday, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights denounced on X the “tendency of Israeli forces to attack essential infrastructure to save lives in Gaza, in particular hospitals”. And the UN agency added: “These attacks are prohibited by international humanitarian law.”
With AFP and AP
Please note: the number of victims is provided by the Hamas-led Gaza Ministry of Health.
The ministry collects information provided by hospitals in the enclave and by the Palestinian Red Crescent.
The Health Ministry in Gaza does not indicate how the Palestinians were killed, whether by Israeli airstrikes and/or barrages or failed Palestinian rocket attacks. It describes all victims as victims of "Israeli aggression" and also does not distinguish between civilians and combatants.
During the four wars and numerous skirmishes between Israel and Hamas, United Nations agencies regularly cited Health Ministry figures in their reports. The International Committee of the Red Cross and the Palestinian Red Crescent also use these figures.
In the aftermath of previous episodes of war, the United Nations Humanitarian Office published casualty figures based on its own research into medical records. The UN figures largely agree with those of the Gaza Ministry of Health, with a few differences.
To learn more about the reports from the Gaza Ministry of Health, click here or here.
France 24 with AP
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