GAZA CITY, Palestine/ISTANBUL

Medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF) decried on Tuesday an Israeli airstrike on Nasser Medical Complex in the southern Gaza Strip, calling for restoring a ceasefire in the Palestinian enclave.

Two patients were killed and several others injured when Israeli army forces shelled the medical facility in the southern city of Khan Younis on Sunday.

“Strikes such as these are horrific for staff and patients,” said Claire Nicolet, MSF head of emergencies in Gaza.

“We cannot go back to repeated attacks on healthcare facilities when the health system in Gaza is already hanging by a thread and no supplies have entered in weeks.”

The medical group said the Israeli attack shows a total disregard for the protection of medical facilities and endangered patients and medical staff.

It called for the immediate restoration of the ceasefire in Gaza and the resumption of the entry of essential aid and basic supplies for Gaza’s population.

Nasser Medical Complex is one of the largest hospitals in southern Gaza, housing a significant number of patients and injured civilians.

According to the World Health Organization, not a single hospital in Gaza is currently fully functional due to Israeli attacks, and only 21 out of the enclave’s 36 hospitals are partially functioning.

The Israeli army launched a surprise aerial campaign on the Gaza Strip on March 18, killing at least 730 people and injuring nearly 1,200 others despite a ceasefire and prisoner exchange agreement that took hold in January.

More than 50,000 Palestinians have been killed, mostly women and children, and over 113,400 injured in a brutal Israeli military onslaught on Gaza since October 2023.

The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants last November for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.