The hospital is the second largest hospital in the Gaza Strip. Recently, thousands of refugees have sought refuge there to escape Israeli soldiers. The fighting in the vicinity has isolated the hospital and is said to have led to the death of several patients, according to the health authorities. Palestinians flee from Khan Younis. Photo: Hatem Ali / AP Israel has announced a ground operation in the city, and has asked people to evacuate the hospital. They recently opened a corridor that was supposed to make it safe for the refugees to continue south into Gaza. There is panic inside and outside the hospital, a doctor told the AP news agency. – The situation is getting worse and worse every hour and every minute, says surgeon Khaled Alserr, who has operated on patients with gunshot wounds at the hospital. Several hundred Palestinians left the hospital on Wednesday, the New York Times reports. 87 people have been killed in the last 24 hours, according to the health authorities in Gaza, which is ruled by Hamas. My hostages are hidden On Thursday morning, Israeli special forces stormed the hospital. This is confirmed by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). They say they have received information from reliable sources that Hamas is hiding hostages inside the hospital. – Because it is likely that Hamas terrorists are hiding behind injured civilians in the Nasser hospital right now. The IDF is therefore carrying out a precise and limited operation inside the Nasser hospital, says IDF spokesperson Daniel Hagari in a video message. A person blocks a door from inside the Nasser hospital in Khan Younis. Photo: @mahmoud_shammala / Instagram He says the goal of the operation is to ensure that the Nasser hospital continues to treat patients in Gaza, and that they have coordinated shipments of medical equipment to the hospital. – Our goal is to hunt down the Hamas terrorists wherever they hide, says Hagari. Hamas denies that they are hiding fighters in the hospital, and calls the culprits lies, reports Reuters. Also when the IDF entered hospitals in Gaza City before Christmas, they said the reason was that Hamas was hiding inside the hospitals. Shooting with drones Spokesman for the health authorities in Gaza, Ashraf al-Qudra, tells news that the IDF entered with great strength on Thursday morning. They removed the refugees’ tents and attacked the emergency department when they entered the hospital area. – They shoot with drones to scare the refugees. Early today, the operating room was bombed, which led to one patient being killed. Several were injured. Two ambulances were destroyed in the attack, and the operating room and maternity ward have been evacuated. Al-Qudra says there are six patients who need ventilators, in addition to three incubator babies who need help. – The situation is catastrophic. It is very dangerous. I am worried about the health personnel and patients who are in the hospital. We ask all international organizations and the Norwegian government to help the hospital and those inside. Asking Israel to stop the attack The organization Doctors Without Borders had several employees inside the hospital when the attack began on Thursday morning. They are asking Israel to stop the attack because it put the lives of both medical personnel and patients in danger. – Our employees had to flee the hospital, while the patients remained inside, they write. One of the employees was arrested at an Israeli checkpoint on the way out of the hospital, while another has not been identified. They write that the situation is chaotic, and that it is unknown how many have died and been injured in the attack. WHO worried about the situation The World Health Organization (WHO) says the Nasser hospital is an important hospital for the whole of Gaza now, because most of the hospitals have been destroyed in the war, reports AFP. WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Wednesday that he is troubled by the reports that have come about the hospital, which was then surrounded by Israeli soldiers. He said the hospital was the backbone of the health system in southern Gaza, and was critical of the fact that the WHO had been denied access to the hospital, and had lost contact with the staff there.
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