Palestine: MSF condemns Israeli strike on Nasser hospital in Gaza
Health facilities must be protected, ceasefire must be resumed
Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) strongly condemns Israel’s strike on Nasser hospital in Khan Younis – the largest remaining functioning hospital in the Gaza Strip, where MSF teams work.
On March 23, Israeli forces targeted the hospital’s inpatient surgical department, killing two people, according to the Ministry of Health. MSF teams confirmed there were several people injured, one of which was admitted to our trauma unit and that severe damage was done to the building.
Escalating attacks on a destroyed system
This attack shows a total disregard for the protection of medical facilities, endangering patients, medical staff and the very provision of healthcare where the health system has been all but destroyed. As Israeli forces escalate their operations in Gaza once again, MSF calls for the respect and protection of healthcare facilities, patients and staff.
“Strikes such as these are horrific for staff and patients,” says Claire Nicolet, MSF head of emergencies in Gaza. “We cannot go back to repeated attacks on healthcare facilities when the health system in Gaza is already hanging by a thread and no supplies have entered in weeks.”
While Gaza’s healthcare system has collapsed and the medical needs of people continue to skyrocket, medical workers are yet again forced to fear for their lives while providing care. At Nasser hospital, two MSF colleagues, who were working in different hospital departments, described panic among patients at the time of the attack.
“The distance between us and the explosion was so close that we could’ve been hit too,” says an MSF nurse who works in another ward in Nasser hospital and was close by when the strike happened. “Our colleagues, medical staff, patients and their caretakers were all terrified.”
No single fully functional hospital left in Gaza
During Israel’s war on Gaza, MSF has witnessed relentless attacks on health facilities, a complete disregard for patients, medical workers and international humanitarian law, resulting in the systematic dismantling of Gaza’s health system. Not a single hospital in the Gaza Strip is currently fully functional and only 21 out of the enclave’s 36 hospitals are partially functioning, according to the World Health Organization.
As one of the last main hospitals in southern Gaza, Nasser hospital is providing care for people with severe burns and trauma injuries, newborns and pregnant women.
In February 2024, MSF teams were forced to flee after the hospital was shelled by Israeli forces. Since returning in mid-May 2024, MSF teams have been supporting the emergency, pediatric and maternity departments, as well as running a burn and trauma unit.
Blockade of essential supplies amid a punishing siege
Nasser hospital, like other health facilities in Gaza, is facing many challenges of supplies, including hygiene items, medication and surgical items, while Israeli authorities continue their 20 days and counting siege on the Strip. Due to the numerous influxes of people wounded from recent bombings, MSF stocks are decreasing faster than expected and the blockade is making it impossible for our teams to restock vital items such as antibiotics, painkillers and anesthetics.
In a separate incident on May 24, MSF teams in Al-Mawasi primary healthcare clinic were forced to close the emergency room, evacuate the facility and suspend activities for the day due to shootings and shelling nearby. Healthcare facilities, patients and medical staff must be protected.
MSF calls once again for the immediate restoration of the ceasefire and for the resumption of the entry of essential aid and basic supplies, which people in Gaza desperately need.
