5 patients die due to power outage after Israeli army raided Nasser Hospital

Palestinian Territories – AFP

There was growing concern Friday over a key Gaza hospital a day after a raid by the Israeli army, with the health ministry saying several patients had died there due to a lack of oxygen.

The health ministry said the power was cut off and the generators stopped after the raid at the Nasser hospital in the southern city of Khan Yunis, and that five patients had died Friday.

In recent days, intense fighting has raged in the vicinity of the hospital — one of the Palestinian territory’s last remaining major medical facilities that are still operational.

A witness who declined to be named out of fear for their safety told AFP the army had shot “at anyone who moved inside the hospital”.

The health ministry also raised fears over the fate of six other patients in the intensive care unit and three children, saying it held Israel “responsible for the lives of patients and staff considering that the complex is now under its full control”.

– ‘Pattern of attacks’ –

Medical charity Doctors Without Borders described a “chaotic situation” at the hospital, with one employee unaccounted for and another detained by Israeli forces.

“Our medical staff have had to flee the hospital, leaving patients behind,” it said.

Footage circulating on social media, which AFP could not independently verify, showed rescuers trying to move patients through dust-filled corridors amid fallen debris.

Roughly 130 Israelis are still believed to be held in Gaza after the October 7 attack on Israel by Hamas, which resulted in the deaths of about 1,160 people, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.

Dozens of the estimated 250 people seized during the attack were freed in exchange for Palestinian prisoners during a week-long truce in November.

Israel says 30 of those still in Gaza are presumed dead.

Israel has killed at least 28,775 people, mostly women and children, in Gaza, according to the health ministry.

– ‘Dying slowly’ –

Nearly 1.5 million displaced Palestinians are trapped in Rafah — more than half of Gaza’s population — seeking shelter in a sprawling makeshift encampment near the Egyptian border.

There are fears about a growing humanitarian disaster without adequate supplies.

“They are killing us slowly,” said displaced Palestinian Mohammad Yaghi. “We are dying slowly due to the scarcity of resources and the lack of medications and treatments in the city of Rafah.”

“There is no medicine,” said Jihan al-Quqa, who was displaced from Khan Yunis to Rafah.

“There are no antibiotics or any other treatments,” she added.

“Everyone is sick, children and the elderly, and there is no medicine.”