Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, southern Gaza, has endured multiple Israeli air strikes over the past six weeks, according to Doctors Without Borders (MSF).
Claire Manera, MSF’s emergency coordinator in Gaza, reported from a field hospital in Deir el-Balah that the attacks are escalating daily, “getting closer and closer.”
She described a recent strike on Monday that “damaged the ceilings of the OT [Operation Theatre] and IPD [In-Patient Department] sections, plus they shattered the windows of our In-Patient Department where some of the critical patients are staying.”
Manera emphasized the impossibility of working under such conditions, stating, “It is impossible for us to continue working in these conditions.”
She expressed daily fears that the hospital could be directly targeted, noting, “because now everything can be struck at any moment without warning.”
British surgeon Victoria Rose, recently returned from her third humanitarian mission to Gaza, detailed the grueling conditions at Nasser Hospital.
Operating 14-hour shifts, she treated up to 13 patients daily, compared to three in London. “It’s operating nonstop in Gaza,” she said.
Rose recounted treating 11-year-old Adam al-Najjar, whose family was killed in a Khan Younis attack, and an eight-year-old orphan, Aziza, found injured on the streets with burns.
Another case involved a seven-year-old girl whose leg was amputated after severe explosion injuries.
Manera noted that Nasser Hospital “has been attacked at least three or four times since I arrived in the last six weeks,” underscoring the persistent threat to medical facilities.
The attacks on Nasser Hospital occur amid broader regional challenges, including skepticism about Palestinian statehood from U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee.
He told Bloomberg News, “I don’t think so,” when asked if a Palestinian state remains a U.S. goal, adding that significant cultural changes, unlikely “in our lifetime,” would be needed.
These developments highlight the dire circumstances facing Gaza’s healthcare system and its civilians caught in the conflict.