Early Friday morning, the Hamas-run Ministry of Health said on its Facebook page that the hospital’s electricity supply had been cut off, putting the lives of six adult patients and three infants in intensive care dependent on oxygen at risk. It was announced that there was. About 40 minutes later, another post announced that three of the patients had died.
The Israeli military’s evacuation order before the attack on the Nasser complex, Gaza’s largest remaining functioning hospital and where thousands of civilians had taken shelter within the compound, alarmed international observers.
“Nasser is the backbone of southern Gaza’s health system,” said World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. I wrote to X at the beginning of the week. “It must be protected.”
The Israeli military announced late Thursday that it was continuing to search the hospital grounds. Israeli military chief spokesman Maj. Gen. Daniel Hagari said the Israeli military had not found any hostages taken in the Oct. 7 Hamas attack. The military earlier said the raid on Nasser Hospital was partly based on intelligence that prisoners were being held there and that their bodies may have been on the hospital grounds.
Admiral Hagari also identified three people he said were on the premises of Nasser Hospital linked to the October 7 attack or to armed groups, in a bid to strengthen the legitimacy of the attack.
Admiral Hagari said one of the men was the driver of an ambulance that transported hostages to Gaza as part of the Hamas attack, and the other admitted to taking part in the killings that day. The third man was a “known” member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.
“We have found many more, dozens more,” he said, adding that the military would provide further details in the coming days.
The attack on Thursday morning left several people dead and injured, including at least one doctor and a patient. Video shows chaotic scenes inside the hospital’s smoke-filled hallways, with parts of the ceiling collapsing and wires and beams sticking out as stretchers rush past.
