ALBAWABA - According to local reports from Gaza, United Nations health experts warned that due to heavy Israeli bombardment and fuel shortages, Gaza's second-largest hospital was completely out of service on Sunday.
The Nasser Hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis continues to house scores of patients suffering from war wounds, but there was no electricity and insufficient personnel to treat them all, according to health authorities.
"It is completely out of service," Gaza Health Ministry official Ashraf Al-Qidra told Reuters. "There are only four medical teams currently caring for patients inside the facility," he went on to say.
Most hospitals have been rendered useless due to conflict and a shortage of fuel, leaving 2.3 million people without access to basic health treatment, while tens of thousands have been injured by airstrikes and many more suffer from chronic illnesses.
The World Health Organization (WHO) urged Israel to grant its staff access to the hospital, where it said a week-long siege and raids by Israeli forces searching for Hamas militants had stopped them from helping patients.
World Health Organization (WHO) director Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on social media platform X: "Both yesterday and the day before, the @WHO team was not permitted to enter the hospital to assess the conditions of the patients and critical medical needs, despite reaching the hospital compound to deliver fuel,".
Israeli forces continue to besiege the Nasser Hospital, resulting in the killing of five intensive care patients due to power outages and the disruption of the oxygen flow in most assistive breathing devices.
As part of the occupation operations aimed at tanking the health system in the Gaza Strip, its forces directly targeted hospitals, besieged, bombed, broke into, and vandalized them and detained health staff, the Palestinian Red Crescent Society's Al Amal Hospital continues to offer medical services despite the rough circumstances.
Al-Aqsa Flood operation against Israel
Hamas military group announced on Oct. 7 a military operation called "Al-Aqsa Flood" against Israel which is the biggest offensive in decades.
Palestinian fighters “infiltrated” Israel from the Gaza Strip and captured military bases and took hostages as photos and videos went viral online showing Hamas fighters on vehicles inside Israel and others paragliding into occupation territory.
In response, Israeli armed forces announced targeting Hamas positions inside the Gaza Strip. Thousands were killed, and dozens of thousands of others were injured in the Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip.
The latest statistics by the Ministry of Health in Gaza revealed that the death toll from Israeli brutal pounding on the Gaza Strip since October 7 has soared to 28,858 people, with more than 68,677 injuries.
Since then, approximately 85% of Gazans have been displaced, all of whom are suffering from severe food insecurity, and the healthcare system has collapsed. Hundreds of thousands of people lack shelter, and aid trucks are entering the area at a lower rate than before the conflict began.
