The United Nations Office for Humanitarian Affairs said on Monday that the Israeli military operation in the hospital complex was continuing.
Nasser Hospital is the latest health facility to become a theater of war in the conflict between Israel and Hamas, now in its fifth month.
Palestinians mourn their relatives who were killed in the Israeli bombing of the Gaza Strip at a hospital morgue in Rafah.credit: AP
Israel says Hamas, the Islamist group that has run the Gaza Strip since 2007, is using hospitals for shelter. Hamas denies this and says Israel's allegations are being used as an excuse to destroy the health care system.
The war was sparked by a Hamas attack on southern Israel on October 7, which killed 1,200 people and took 253 hostages, according to Israel.
Israel pledged to destroy Hamas, and responded with an air and ground attack that, according to Gaza statistics, killed more than 29,000 Palestinians and injured more than 69,000 others. The war caused the displacement of most of the enclave's 2.3 million residents and turned most of it into rubble.
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Ashraf Al-Qudra, spokesman for the Ministry of Health in Gaza, said that the occupation forces arrested 70 hospital employees and volunteers, including the hospital director, Dr. Nahed Abu Taima.
The Israeli army denied arresting Abu Ta'imah and said it had no knowledge of the arrest of 70 others.
The army had previously said it had arrested hundreds of Hamas activists who were hiding in Nasser Hospital, some of whom pretended to be medical staff, and published pictures of weapons it said were found there.
An IDF spokesman said: “IDF forces carried out activities against terrorist infrastructure and terrorist activists at Nasser Hospital.”
In addition, the Israeli army worked in cooperation with the hospital director and the medical team in order to enable the hospital to continue its work. The forces also held a dialogue with the director a few days ago.”
Reuters was unable to contact Abu Tuaima by phone.
The Coordination Agency for Government Activities in the Territories, an Israeli Defense Ministry liaison agency involved in coordinating aid deliveries to Gaza, said Nasser Hospital remained operational throughout the army raids.
“We facilitated the arrival of humanitarian aid and supplies to the hospital and coordinated a UN team to evacuate patients,” the Office for the Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories in X said.
The army's actions were described as “specific activity against the Hamas terrorist organization at Nasser Hospital, with the main aim of ensuring that Nasser Hospital continues its operations.”
It listed items it said were delivered to the hospital with its help, including diesel fuel, food, drinking water, a replacement generator and medicines donated by the World Health Organization.
The Gaza Ministry of Health said hospitals in northern Gaza had been partially operating in recent weeks, but were now at risk of closing again.
All European Union countries except Hungary warned Israel on Monday against launching an attack on Rafah, which it said would deepen the catastrophe of about 1.5 million refugees crowded in the city located on the southern end of the Gaza Strip.
Irish Foreign Minister Michael Martin said before a meeting of foreign ministers of the 27 European Union member states in Brussels, “The attack on Rafah would be completely disastrous… It would be unreasonable.”
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After the talks ended, all but one of them called in a joint statement for “an immediate humanitarian truce that would lead to a permanent ceasefire, the unconditional release of all hostages and the provision of humanitarian assistance.”
The statement was issued in the name of “the foreign ministers of 26 EU member states,” and diplomats said that Hungary – a close ally of the Israeli government – was the only country that had not signed.
The ministers said: “We ask the Israeli government not to undertake any military action in Rafah that would exacerbate the already catastrophic humanitarian situation and prevent the provision of basic services and much-needed humanitarian assistance.”
Israel is preparing to launch a ground invasion into the southernmost city of the Gaza Strip, which it described as the last stronghold of Hamas control after nearly five months of fighting.
Reuters
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