Gaza’s largest functioning hospital facing disaster, medics warn, as Israel widens offensive

Doctors have warned of an imminent disaster in the largest hospital in Gaza due to the decisive shortage of fuel and the extensive Israeli attack in the southern city of Khan Yunis.

The Nasser Medical Complex was forced to stop accepting patients on Thursday, when witnesses said that Israeli forces and tanks advanced to a cemetery of 200 meters (660 feet) and called the nearby camps for the displaced families. According to what was reported, the forces withdrew on Friday after digging several areas.

The medical staff and dozens of patients remain in intensive care inside the hospital, as the lack of fuel threatens to close life -saving services.

There was no immediate comment from the Israeli army.

However, on Friday morning, an armored brigade was working in Khan Yunis to dismantle “terrorist infrastructure sites” and confiscation of weapons> had previously issued evacuation orders to the areas surrounding the hospital.

One of the witnesses told the BBC that the Israeli tanks are accompanied by excavations and bulldozers from the south of the cemetery near Nasser Hospital on Thursday.

The witness said that the tanks fired shells and bullets as they moved to an area that was previously agricultural lands, and many tents belonging to displaced families were fire. Common video footage online showed a column of dark smoke that rises from the area.

The witness added that the Israeli drones, which were also launched towards the tents in Nameswi Towers and the areas of Mawasi to force the residents to evacuate. Another video showed dozens of people running to cover the fire.

According to what was stated, one or two civilians were injured near the hospital doors due to stray bullets.

Meanwhile, the medical staff inside Nasser Hospital sent letters to local journalists who express their fear. “We are still working in the hospital. The tanks are just meters away. We are closer to death from life,” they wrote.

On Friday morning, locals said that the Israeli tanks and forces withdrew from the cemetery and other areas close to the hospital.

It seems that the common online images later in the day show the deep trenches dug in sandy ground, flat buildings, burned tents and broken vehicles on top of each other.

The employees of Nasser Hospital said they were establishing whether they could resume patients.

On Wednesday, they warned that the hospital was very close to the full closure due to a lack of fuel.

They said that the electricity generators are expected to work for an additional one day despite the great efforts to reduce energy consumption and restrict electricity to the most important departments only, including intensive care and childbirth units.

The hospital added that if the force comes out completely, dozens of patients, especially those who rely on industrial respirators, “will be in immediate danger and face a certain death.”

An Israeli military official told a Reuters news agency on Thursday that about 160,000 liters of fuel for hospitals and other humanitarian facilities entered Gaza since Wednesday, but the distribution of fuel around the region was not the responsibility of the army.

There is a lack of critical medical supplies, especially those related to shock care.

During a visit to Nasser Hospital last week, The Gaza representative of the World Health Organization (WHO) described it as a “one huge shock suite”.

Dr. Rick Biberkorn said in a video clip that the facility, which usually had the capacity of 350 beds, was treating about 700 patients, and that the exhausted employees were working 24 hours a day.

He added that the director and the doctors have reported that hundreds of trauma have received over the past four weeks, and most of them are related to incidents related to the aid distribution sites.

“There are many children, young adolescents who die or suffer from the most serious injuries because they are trying to get some food for their families,” he said.

Among them was a 13 -year -old boy who was shot in the head and is now danced, a 21 -year -old man and has a bullet in his neck and a quadrilateral.

On Friday, 10 people were being searched for help were killed by Israeli military fire near the relief distribution site in the nearby city of Rafah. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) did not comment.

Meanwhile, in the north of Gaza, the leader of Hamas was a senior among eight people who were killed in an Israeli air strike on the families of the schools in Gabalia.

Iyad Nasr, who led the Jabalia Battalion, died, along with his family, including many children, and an assistant when two missiles were struck at the Halima cata school, according to the source.

Another Hamas commander, Hassan Mary, and his assistant were said to have been killed in a separate air strike on an apartment in the refugee camp in Shatti, west of Gaza City.

This comes at a time when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that a new deal in Gaza and the hostage agreement may be only days away, after the end of his four -day journey to the United States.

Before returning from Washington on Thursday evening, Newsmax told that the proposal would witness the release of Hamas, the twenty -lively hostage, which is still maintaining and slightly more than half of the dead hostage 30 during a 60 -day truce.

“Therefore, we will have 10 living left and about 12 dead hostages [remaining]But I will also take them out. I hope we can complete it within a few days. ”

However, a BBC Palestinian official told that indirect negotiations in Qatar have stopped, with adherent points, including the distribution of aid and the withdrawal of Israeli forces.

The Israeli army launched a campaign in Gaza in response to the Hamas -led attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, where about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others took hostage.

At least 57,762 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the Hamas Ministry of Health in the region.