I don’t think most people realized that there were still hospitals in Gaza.
As the old Jewish adage goes: “Hospitals are the first casualties of war.”
Israeli forces have raided the largest hospital in the Gaza Strip that is still functioning, amid warnings from the UN aid chief that a threatened ground offensive in Rafah, the area’s last remaining place of relative safety, could trigger an exodus of refugees fleeing into Egypt.
Nasser hospital, in the central town of Khan Younis, was hit directly by tank fire overnight, staff at the medical complex said on Thursday, in an attack that killed one person and injured eight more. Dr Khaled al-Serr, a surgeon at the hospital, said in an Instagram post that Israel Defense Forces (IDF) ground troops stormed the premises about an hour later and began forcing patients, medical personnel and displaced civilians sheltering at the hospital to flee.
Videos posted by Serr and others who said they were at the medical complex showed dripping water mixed with blood on the floor, and dust and smoke filling the air, as people searched for survivors under the rubble using lights on their phones. Shooting could be heard in the background.
Israeli tanks demolishing the walls of Nasser Hospital and advancing into its premises.
Hospitals remain protected under international law.
Boycott Israel now.
— Howard Beckett (@BeckettUnite) February 15, 2024
The UN’s humanitarian office had said on Wednesday that Nasser had been besieged by Israeli forces, with allegations that sniper fire had been aimed at the facility.
On Wednesday night, a doctor in the hospital’s emergency department, Haitham Ahmad, told colleagues in the UK: “We’re living through fear and anxiety amid attempts to evacuate the people sheltering in the hospital. Many civilians have been shot by snipers, most of them within the hospital parameters.
“We’re panicking. We woke up today to loud airstrikes and explosions to the north. It’s terrifying. We’re running on little food, and medicines are limited. We have patients in ICU with no chance of survival if we are forced to flee.”
Yeah, they’re not going to survive when they get headshotted by snipers.
But that’s a lot less painful than the deaths they would otherwise be facing, I guess.
So maybe these are humanitarian Jewish snipers?
The moment an Israeli drone targeted journalists and doctors evacuating Nasser Hospital. Dr. Israa Abu Rogaa was wounded in her leg. pic.twitter.com/H7tV0FiMkA
— TIMES OF GAZA (@Timesofgaza) February 15, 2024
This is my friend Dr Mohammed Harar from Nasser hospital right now.
This is unbearable. Where are the fucking human rights???? How is this still called self-defense??? pic.twitter.com/udBLfuVDUV
— Leyla Hamed (@leylahamed) February 15, 2024