‘Operation Al-Aqsa Flood’ Day 135: Israel’s war on Gaza’s hospitals continues

Casualties

• 28,985+ killed* and at least 68,883 wounded in the Gaza Strip.
• 380+ Palestinians killed in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem
• Israel revises its estimated October 7 death toll down from 1,400 to 1,147.
• 573 Israeli soldiers killed since October 7, and at least 3,221 injured.**

*This figure was confirmed by Gaza’s Ministry of Health on Telegram channel. Some rights groups put the death toll number closer to 36,500 when accounting for those presumed dead.

** This figure is released by the Israeli military, showing the soldiers whose names “were allowed to be published.”

Key Developments

• The chief of WHO says, “Nasser Hospital in Gaza is not functional anymore, after a weeklong siege followed by the ongoing [Israeli] raid”.
• Israel blocks WHO team from entering Nasser Hospital to assess condition of patients and critical medical needs.
• Dr. Ashraf Al-Qudra, spokesperson of Gaza’s Ministry of Health, says Israeli forces turned Nasser Hospital into “a military barracks and put it out of service.”
• Al-Qudra says Israeli forces “arrested dozens of patients who were unable to move while they were on treatment beds.”
• PRCS says Israeli artillery shells bombed third floor of Al-Amal Hospital in Khan Younis on Sunday. Israeli forces prevent food, medical supplies and fuel delivery to Al-Amal.
• Israel bombs central Gaza areas of Deir Al-Balah and Nuseirat refugee camp overnight, kills at least 40 Palestinians.
• Municipality of Gaza City says Israeli aggression destroyed 42,000 meters of water pipes, 40 wells, nine water primary tanks, and 480 agricultural water valves since October.
• Tens of millions of people worldwide protest in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza Strip, calling for holding Israel accountable for its crimes and for immediate ceasefire.
• Israel’s Foreign Minister says “If the price of expanding the peace agreements is a Palestinian state, then I give up the peace agreements. A Palestinian state – there won’t be. Period.”
• Marwan Al-Barghouti, popular national figure and Fatah leader was transferred again into solitary confinement in Ramla prison.
• Overnight, Israeli settlers attack Turmus Ayya village, north of Ramallah, and burn several Palestinian cars.
• Israeli authorities force Palestinian to self-demolish their home in Jerusalem’s Silwan neighborhood.

“Nasser hospital in Gaza is not functional anymore”

The second-largest medical facility in the Gaza Strip, Nasser Hospital, went out of service on Sunday morning following an Israeli siege, storming, and arrest of medical staff and patients.

“Nasser hospital in Gaza is not functional anymore, after a weeklong siege followed by the ongoing raid,” the chief of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, wrote on X platform.

Israeli snipers stationed close to the Nasser Hospital had shot and killed several Palestinian patients or visitors in the past weeks. On Saturday, Israeli forces stormed the medical complex and detained 100 Palestinians.

“Both yesterday and the day before, the WHO team was not permitted to enter the hospital to assess the conditions of the patients and critical medical needs, despite reaching the hospital compound to deliver fuel alongside partners,” Ghebreyesus wrote.

He added that at least 200 patients remain trapped inside the Nasser Hospital, and 20 need urgent treatment and referrals to other medical centers.

“The cost of delays will be paid by patients’ lives. Access to the patients and hospital should be facilitated,” the WHO chief said.

Israeli forces’ assault on Palestinian hospitals and medical services in the Gaza Strip has been a part of their overall campaign to force Palestinians out of the enclave. Israel claimed that the captives’ bodies were held inside the Nasser Hospital, but they have yet to provide evidence.

No electricity, no oxygen, and no water

The Nasser and Al-Amal Hospitals in Khan Younis have both been under Israeli fire since January, preventing people and medical teams from accessing the compounds.

In the past weeks, footage of Israeli snipers shooting Palestinians near the Nasser Hospital’s central courtyard was published on social media. 

Dr. Ashraf Al-Qudra, the spokesperson of Gaza’s Ministry of Health, said on Sunday morning that Israeli forces turned the Nasser into “a military barracks and put it out of service.”

He said Israeli forces detained medical staff for hours inside the maternity ward overnight, handcuffed and beat them, and forced them to take their clothes off.

Dr. Al-Qudra said that only 25 medical staff remained inside the Nasser Hospital and that Israel arrested at least 70 people on Saturday. Medical staff could not cope with critical cases after Israel arrested the doctor in charge of the intensive care unit. 

“The Israeli occupation forces arrested dozens of patients who were unable to move while they were on treatment beds. They were placed on army beds, placed in trucks, and taken to an unknown destination, putting their lives in danger,” Dr. Al-Qudra added.

There was no electricity in the Nasser for three days; oxygen cylinders were running out, leading to the death of eight patients so far; sewage and rainwater flooded the emergency department in Al-Taraha building in the Nasser complex.

“Three women, including a female doctor, gave birth at Nasser Medical Complex in dire and unsafe conditions, lacking water, food, electricity, and hygiene,” Dr. Al-Qudra added.

Israel bombs third floor of Al-Amal Hospital

Only 14 out of the 36 hospitals in the Gaza Strip were partially operating in early February — nine of them in southern Gaza, including Al-Amal and Nasser Hospitals. 

Nasser Hospital is now out of operation, and the situation is also dire at Al-Amal, a small hospital in Khan Younis run by the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS).

Israeli forces stormed Al-Amal Hospital in early February and arrested several Palestinian patients and staff. The medical facility was put under strict siege for nearly 30 days.

On Saturday, a Palestinian paramedic recorded a message from inside the Al-Amal saying that Israeli forces cut them off from the outside world, seizing their phones and electric equipment.

“One of our colleagues managed to conceal her mobile phone, from which I’m talking to you… the sounds of bombardment, strikes, and firearm clashes never stopped in the vicinity of the hospital. Today, the occupation forces directly targeted the hospital building with two shells,” he said.

The PRCS said on Sunday that Israeli artillery shells bombed the third floor of the Al-Amal Hospital in Khan Younis.

“The occupation prevents food, medical supplies, and fuel delivery to the [Al-Amal] hospital,” the PRSC said.

It added that cellular and internet services are constantly being jammed by Israeli forces, who shoot anyone approaching the hospital.

Israel bombs Hamad family’s house; shatters Gaza water networks

Gaza’s Ministry of Health said on Sunday that Israeli forces killed 127 Palestinians and injured 205 others in 13 massacres in the past 24 hours. The number of Palestinians killed in the Israeli aggression on Gaza now stands at 28,985 martyrs, and 68,883 were injured since October.

“A number of victims are still under rubble and on the roads, and the occupation prevents ambulance and civil defense crews from reaching them,” it added on Telegram channel. 

Israeli bombing of central Gaza areas of Deir Al-Balah and Nuseirat refugee camp overnight killed at least 40 Palestinians, according to Wafa news agency.

Israel bombed several houses, including the house of Hamad family in Al-Zawaida in Khan Younis, killing at least 20 Palestinians. Israel also bombed nine houses in Rafah city, killing 13 Palestinians.

In north Gaza, Israeli forces attacked the areas of Sheikh Radwan, Al-Nasr, Al-Zaytoun, Al-Rimal, and Al-Sabra, killing at least 10 Palestinians, Wafa reported.

Thousands of Palestinians remain without sufficient food or proper shelter in the Gaza Strip. Palestinian families get hot meals through charity donations, queuing in the cold to get their ration, which an entire family would share.  

The past weeks have been wet, cold, and miserable for nearly 1.5 million Palestinians in Rafah, the southernmost city bordering Egypt, who remain under threat of an imminent Israeli invasion. 

But the situation in north Gaza is also bleak. An Israeli military checkpoint on Salah El-Din Street, an artery route connecting north and south Gaza, had hindered aid trucks from reaching Gaza City.

Palestinians in north Gaza are also suffering from the lack of fresh water. The municipality of Gaza City said on Sunday that Israeli aggression had destroyed 42,000 meters of water pipes, 40 wells, nine water primary tanks, and 480 agricultural water valves since October.

North Gaza continues to be a battleground between Israeli forces and Palestinian resistance fighters, despite Israel’s announcement several times that it had controlled the area and destroyed a number of Hamas battalions.

Netanyahu’s son lounges in luxury apartment in Miami

On Saturday, tens of millions of people worldwide protested in solidarity with Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, calling for holding Israel accountable for its crimes and for an immediate ceasefire.

While in Tel Aviv, thousands protested on Saturday evening to call for the resignation of Israel’s Prime Minister Benjmain Netanyahu and for the release of the captives held by Hamas.

Israeli critics had noted that Netanyahu’s son, Yair, has been hiding out in his $5,000 a-month Florida apartment, sipping drinks, hanging out with friends and protected by Shin Bet detail, while Israeli families send their sons to wage war on Gaza.

The British tabloid, the Daily Mail, published several images of Yair, 32, lounging in shorts and sweats on his balcony in Miami.

At least 573 Israeli soldiers, whose names were allowed to be published, were killed in the Gaza Strip during armed clashes with Palestinian resistance fighters. Thousands of others were injured or suffered from mental stress.

“A Palestinian state – there won’t be. Period”

Yet, Israel’s war on Gaza seems to have no end in sight following the collapse of talks efforts to reach a prisoner’s exchange deal with Hamas and Israel’s declared plan to attack Rafah.

On Saturday, Israel’s Foreign Minister, Eli Cohen, made it clear that even the prospect of normalizing ties with Arab countries is totally rejected if it would lead to a Palestinian State.

“If the price of expanding the peace agreements is a Palestinian state, then I give up the peace agreements. A Palestinian state – there won’t be. Period,” Cohen said, according to Maariv newspaper.

Cohen’s remark comes after U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said that Israel has “an extraordinary opportunity” to normalize ties with Arab countries as part of a regional deal that would establish a Palestinian State, “revitalize” the Palestinian Authority (PA), but excludes Hamas.

Israel transfers Marwan Al-Barghouti to solitary confinement

Last week, Israeli authorities placed Marwan Al-Barghouti, a popular national figure and Fatah leader, in solitary confinement.

On Sunday, Qaddoura Fares, the head of PA’s Prisoners and Ex-Prisoners Affairs Authority, said that Barghouti was transferred again into solitary confinement in Rimonim prison.

Fares said that Barghouti was moved between several prions in the past two months, from Ofer to Ramla and now Rimonim. The journey between prisons, known for Palestinian prisoners as Al-Busta, is a torturous and humiliating experience.

Itamar Ben-Gvir, the National Security Minister, said that he ordered the transfer of Barghouti to solitary confinement “following information about a planned uprising” in the occupied West Bank.

Hamas insisted that Barghouti will be among the prisoners that will be released in any exchange deal with Israel.

Barghouti is seen by Palestinians as a national figure who could bridge the schism between Fatah and Hamas and lead a Palestinian State.

Overnight, Israeli settlers attacked Turmus Ayya village, north of Ramallah, and burned several Palestinian cars.

Israeli forces stormed villages in the West Bank and arrested several Palestinians. In total, Israel arrested 7,060 Palestinians in the West Bank and occupied Jerusalem since October, some released later, Wafa reported. 

In Jerusalem’s Silwan neighborhood, Israeli authorities forced a Palestinian to self-demolish his home in the Bir Ayoub area. Ali Odeh built his home without a permit, however, Israeli authorities rarely grant building permits to Palestinians in Jerusalem, while it plans and expands settlements for Israelis in the city.