The Israeli army evacuated the displaced people from Nasser Medical Complex and most of the medical personnel (social networking sites)

Gaza -

After the martyrdom of his friend Nidal Salama inside the Nasser Medical Complex in the city of Khan Yunis in the south of the Gaza Strip, “Abu Muhammad” fears for the lives of two wounded brothers with whom he had a friendship, and he took care of them for more than two months inside the complex, which the Palestinian Ministry of Health announced was out of service. After the Israeli occupation took control of it.

Among the wounded and sick inside Nasser Medical Complex, Nidal was one of 7 patients martyred during the past three days. Abu Muhammad says that his condition was not critical, but he died due to the siege of the hospital, the occupation’s control over it, and the lack of medical staff and treatment, and the danger threatens the lives of dozens of others.

The occupation forces turned this largest medical complex in the south of the Gaza Strip into a "military barracks", putting it out of service after storming it, and forcing thousands of displaced people who took shelter in it, as well as patients there, to leave it, while a limited number of war-wounded and medical staff remained inside.

Accompanied by crowds of displaced people and patients, Abu Muhammad, who preferred to speak to Al Jazeera Net under his nickname because he works for an international medical organization that does not authorize him to speak to the media, was forced to leave the medical complex at two o’clock after midnight last Thursday, and walk for about two hours towards the city of Rafah. On the border with Egypt, south of the Gaza Strip.

Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Yunis is the largest in the southern Gaza Strip (social networking sites)

The danger of death is imminent

With much sadness and anxiety, he spoke about his last moment inside the compound, when he left the two wounded brothers Khaled and Ahmed Shabir, who were survivors of an Israeli air strike on their house, which resulted in the martyrdom of their parents and others. He said, “Nidal was martyred, and only fate knows the fate of Khaled and Ahmed and all the wounded and sick in Nasser Complex.

For more than two months, Abu Muhammad took care of the two brothers Khaled (30 years old) and Ahmed (22 years old), and a friendship was woven between them, and he feared their inevitable death, unless the occupation forces allowed the complex to restart, and his contact with them was cut off for the third day in a row.

The two Shabbir brothers suffer from broken limbs and wounds throughout their bodies, and need special medical care. According to Abu Muhammad, this care has not been available in the complex for three days, due to it being under full Israeli military control.

There are only 25 medical staff left in the complex, who are unable to deal with cases that require extreme clinical care. According to Ministry of Health spokesman Ashraf Al-Qudra, “the danger of death threatens about 120 sick and wounded people inside the complex.”

Arresting patients

Al-Qudra told Al-Jazeera Net, "The Israeli occupation placed medical personnel for long hours in the maternity building while they were handcuffed, beat them, stripped them of their clothes, and arrested 70 of them, including the intensive care doctor, which is currently devoid of any doctor to follow up on critical cases."

The occupation forces arrested dozens of patients who were unable to move, placed them on army beds, transferred them in military trucks, and took them to an unknown destination, putting their lives in danger, according to Al-Qudra’s testimony, which confirms the loss of communication with the complex’s administration and crews.

The complex is plunged into darkness as a result of the electrical generators stopping for the third day, which led to a water outage to the entire complex as well, while sewage water flooded the emergency departments in the surgery building, and the occupation refuses to coordinate to repair them.

In light of this tragic reality, and in dire and unsafe circumstances, Al-Qudra says that 3 women, including a doctor in the complex, gave birth, without any necessities of water, food, electricity, hygiene, or medical care.

This complex, which consists of several hospitals in the specialties of internal medicine, orthopedics, complex fractures, general and specialized surgery, childbirth, childbirth, nursery, face and hands, diagnostic services, heart care, and burns, is the largest in the south of the Strip, and the second largest in the Gaza Strip after the Shifa Medical Complex, which was subjected to widespread attack and destruction.

Even before it was stormed, controlled, turned into a military barracks and put out of service, the Nasser Complex was one of 11 hospitals still operating and providing medical services to thousands of wounded and sick, out of 36 medical facilities in the Gaza Strip that had been directly and indirectly targeted since the beginning of the aggression.

Hospitals in Gaza suffer from a lack of medical staff, run out of fuel and medicines, and operate in dangerous conditions (Al Jazeera)

Dangerous and catastrophic conditions

The attack on the Nasser Medical Complex threatens the lives of hundreds of thousands of residents of the southern Gaza Strip and those displaced there, especially in the neighboring cities of Rafah and Khan Yunis. The health spokesman says, "This complex is considered the backbone of health services in the southern Gaza Strip."

The World Health Organization said that about 200 patients are still present inside the Nasser Complex, at least 20 of whom need to be transferred urgently to other hospitals to receive health care, and any delay in their transfer will cost their lives.

Over the past two days, the occupation forces have refused to allow a team from the organization to enter the complex to assess the patients’ conditions and urgent medical needs, and to supply it with fuel and medical and relief aid.

The Nasser Complex being out of service casts a heavy shadow, and places enormous pressure on the small and only “Martyr Abu Youssef Al-Najjar” Hospital in the city of Rafah.

The hospital director and head of the city's health emergency committee, Dr. Marwan Al-Hams, told Al Jazeera Net, "With Nasser's departure from service, the number of people displaced to Rafah increased, and the burden of disease cases increased."

Al-Najjar Hospital, according to Al-Hams, is currently experiencing great pressure as it receives 191 patients who were forced by the occupation to displace and leave the Nasser Medical Complex, in addition to 30 kidney patients, raising the total number of patients to 580 patients whose medical needs the old and dilapidated dialysis unit cannot meet.

Significantly, the cases of visitors to the reception and emergency department at Al-Najjar Hospital increased, and as a result, “medications that were in short supply have disappeared, such as heart medications and dialysis supplies,” in addition to the fact that the hospital has become, according to Al-Hams, the destination for the wounded and martyrs from the cities of Rafah and Khan Yunis. The situation has become more dangerous and disastrous.

Source: Al Jazeera