Smoke rising over Khan Younis in southern Gaza on Tuesday. Nasser Hospital was besieged before being raided this week. [Picture: Bassam Masoud/Reuters]
Israel’s occupation forces stormed Nasser Hospital, Khan Younis, where thousands have sought shelter. The overnight raid killed one and injured eight others.
Thursday’s attack came as the Israeli Defence [Occupation] Force (IDF) readied to launch an assault on the border town of Rafah.
Under the pretence of rescuing captives, the occupation forces stormed one of Gaza’s last functional hospitals and instructed the evacuation of approximately 600 people, reported Al Jazeera.
“Altogether, 600 people were forced by the occupation soldiers to move … to one of the three buildings, which is the oldest. There is only one elevator working. They had to carry patients by hand, carrying them on their backs. And now they are crammed in the narrow corridors of this building,” said renowned Norwegian physicist and activist Dr Mads Gilbert.
SMread: Netanyahu hellbent on boundless bloodshed in Rafah
Situation in Gaza
The worsening situation in the Gaza Strip has drawn strong condemnation from people and governments the world over. Rabbis, priests, ulema and even prime ministers, noting the situation, have warned against an imminent military assault on Rafah.
Jonathan Wittenberg, a prominent rabbi and leader of the Masorti movement in the United Kingdom (UK), was one of the latest preachers to speak against PM Benjamin Netanyahu’s plans.
“… Over a million Palestinian civilians, many already in flight from the north of Gaza, are now trapped with nowhere to go. In countless references, Judaism has, throughout its history, stressed our duty to refugees and the helpless. How can we be unmoved by their grief and unbearable suffering?” he said in a statement this week.
The United Nations’ (UN) rights office meanwhile condemned the raid on Nasser Hospital. Said the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) on Thursday: “The raid appears to be part of a pattern of attacks by Israeli forces striking essential life-saving civilian infrastructure in Gaza, especially hospitals”.
“Our Office has documented similar raids in Gaza City, North Gaza, Middle Gaza and in Khan Younis, with serious consequences for the safety of patients, medical and other staff, as well as civilians sheltering in these facilities,” it said.
Around 70 percent of Gaza’s civilian infrastructure, including homes, hospitals and schools, have been “destroyed or severely damaged”, according to UNRWA. It further noted that 84 percent of health facilities “have been affected” by attacks. Israel’s indiscriminate attacks have so far killed 28 663 Palestinians and wounded 68,395 others since October 7.
