GAZA CITY, Palestine

The Israeli army has endangered the lives of patients at the Nasser Medical Complex, the main health care facility in Khan Younis city in the southern Gaza Strip, by converting it into military barracks, the Health Ministry in the besieged enclave warned on Thursday. 

The ministry said in a statement that “the Nasser Medical Complex is witnessing a catastrophic and alarming situation as a result of its conversion into a military barracks.”

It also issued a warning about "the cessation of generators due to fuel depletion within the next 24 hours, endangering the lives of patients, including six patients on ventilators in the intensive care unit, and three children in the nursery."

The ministry explained that “the occupation forces forced the administration of the Nasser Medical Complex to accommodate 95 health workers, 11 of their family members, 191 patients, and 165 companions and displaced people in the old Nasser building under harsh and frightening conditions.”

The ministry pointed out that “there is no food or milk for children, and there is a severe shortage of water.”

It emphasized that “medical teams are unable to provide any treatment to patients, negatively affecting their health condition.”

Earlier on Thursday, the ministry said in a statement that “the Israeli occupation forces raided the Nasser Medical Complex and turned it into a military barracks after demolishing the southern wall and entering through it.”

It added that “the occupation targets the ambulance headquarters and the tents of the displaced, and is excavating mass graves inside the Nasser Medical Complex.”

Israel has pounded the Gaza Strip since an Oct. 7 Hamas attack. The ensuing Israeli attack had killed at least 28,663 and caused mass destruction and shortages of necessities.

Less than 1,200 Israelis are believed to have been killed in the Hamas attack.

The Israeli war on Gaza has pushed 85% of the territory's population into internal displacement amid acute shortages of food, clean water, and medicine, while 60% of the enclave's infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.

Israel is accused of genocide in the Gaza Strip, and South Africa has filed a case in the International Court of Justice. In January, an interim ruling ordered Tel Aviv to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that civilians in Gaza receive humanitarian assistance.


*Writing by Rania Abu Shamala