Source: The Guardian

Fears grow for largest remaining hospital in Gaza as Israeli forces bombard Khan Younis

Staff say situation at Nasser hospital ‘catastrophic’ as Israeli airstrikes hit metres away

Jason Burke in Jerusalem and Helen Livingstone
Fri 19 Jan 2024 11.00 GMT
First published on Fri 19 Jan 2024 03.56 GMT

Israeli forces have advanced further into southern Gaza, with airstrikes and close-combat fighting nearing areas crowded with more than a million people who have sought refuge from fighting and destruction across the rest of the territory.

The prospect of major operations taking place in terrain with such a dense and vulnerable population is “deeply concerning”, say aid officials, who fear Gaza’s largest remaining hospital may have to be closed or evacuated.

Witnesses reported the sound of ground combat and explosions early on Friday in the west of Khan Younis, the main city in the south of Gaza, where Israel says many members and leaders of the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas are hiding.

Medical staff said the fighting had come within metres of Nasser hospital, the biggest hospital still partly working in Gaza, over the past week. It has been receiving hundreds of wounded patients every day since the fighting shifted to the south last month. There are fears it could be forced to close because of Israeli bombardments and evacuation orders.

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Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/jan/19/israel-gaza-war-largest-remaining-hospital-nasser-khan-younis-attack-fears-strike