Anjali Sharma
GG News Bureau
UNITED NATIONS, 17th Feb. World Health Organization on Friday warned that the largest remaining Nasser hospital in southern Gaza is “barely functional” after the reports of intense attacks by Israeli forces.
WHO spokesperson Tarik Jašarević, told reporters at a press conference in Geneva that there have been reports of damage to Nasser Hospital’s orthopedic unit, reduced its ability to provide urgent medical care.
“More degradation to the hospital means more lives being lost,” he said.
According to the UN agency 36 hospitals in Gaza only 11 are functioning. There are reports that several patients have died during the Israeli operation.
Israeli military has alleged that Hamas was holding hostages or withholding the bodies of Israelis within the Al Nasser compound, situated in Khan Younis.
The hospital has been providing lifesaving services to the most critically ill and has been a refuge to countless civilians displaced from elsewhere in the Gaza Strip, WHO said.
Mr. Jašarević added that WHO was trying to gain urgent access to the complex.
“We really need to get there to bring fuel so [the] hospital can continue to function and those patients who are still there can continue to receive medical care,” he said.
He stressed the need to assess the conditions of patients and for their safe referral to other facilities.
“We have been saying all this time…that patients, health workers, and civilians who are seeking refuge in hospitals deserve safety and not a burial in those places of healing,” he added.
UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said that the intense Israeli bombardment from air, land and sea continues to be reported across much of the Gaza Strip, resulted in civilian casualties, displacement and infrastructure damage.
OCHA noted in a flash update issued on Friday that “Widespread ground operations and heavy fighting between Israeli forces and Palestinian armed groups to be reported in the centre of Khan Younis and east of Deir al Balah.”
According to the Ministry of Health in Gaza, between 15 February and 11:00 AM on 16 February, 112 Palestinians were killed, and 157 Palestinians were injured; and since 7 October, at least 28,775 Palestinians were killed in Gaza and a further 68,552 reported injured.
OCHA reported that intensified airstrikes on Rafah and statements by Israeli officials of a ground operation have led to the movement of people sheltering there towards the town of Deir Al-Balah in central Gaza.
It added that over half of Gaza population crammed into Rafah, which is located at the southern end of the strip, in an area that represents a fifth of Gaza land area.
