Israel hindering rescue missions to Gaza's Nasser hospital: WHO

The World Health Organization (WHO) says Israel’s military forces are hindering medical rescue missions to the besieged Nasser Hospital, whose condition is “indescribable.”

The UN health agency issued a statement on social media on Tuesday morning, saying its staff managed to transfer 32 critical patients, including two children, out of the hospital on Sunday and Monday.

The transferred patients were moved to other hospitals and to field hospitals in the territory.

The regime’s forces had denied access to the facility since they took control of the hospital last week.

There are still an estimated 130 sick and injured patients and at least 15 doctors and nurses inside the facility, WHO said, warning that the conditions inside are ripe for the spread of disease.

“WHO fears for the safety and well-being of the patients and health workers remaining in the hospital and warns that further disruption to life-saving care for the sick and injured would lead to more deaths.”

The agency’s life-saving missions at the besieged complex provided small supplies of essential medicines and food for remaining patients and staff.

The hospital in Khan Yunis, one of the last functioning hospitals in the whole territory, in currently in "indescribable” condition.

“Nasser Hospital has no electricity or running water, and medical waste and garbage are creating a breeding ground for disease.”

“The area was surrounded by burnt and destroyed buildings, heavy layers of debris, with no stretch of intact road,” said the statement.

WHO spokesman Tarik Jasarevic told a press briefing in Geneva that patients were in darkness in the hospital corridors, lit only by flashlights and mobile phones.

The statement finished by saying that the health organization "repeats its calls for the protection of patients, health workers, health infrastructure, and civilians.”

Khan Yunis has been the main target of Israel’s ground offensive for weeks.

The regime now says its forces will soon raid the overcrowded southernmost city of Rafah.

The border town, once declared a “safe zone” by the regime, is currently home to about 1.5 million people who have been forcibly displaced.

The regime’s military forces have already been bombarding the overcrowded city with airstrikes for weeks.

SS