Al-Nasr Children's Hospital in Gaza becomes inoperable following Israeli attack

By Anadolu Staff

JERUSALEM (AA) - The Al-Nasr Children's Hospital in western Gaza City was rendered inoperative on Friday due to Israeli attacks, leading to the tragic death of a child because of oxygen deprivation, the Palestinian Ministry of Health reported.

The hospital was targeted twice, its director Mustafa al-Kalhalut said.

“One attack targeted the hospital’s gate and the other was directed at the departments in the hospital,” the director said in a release, adding that “the hospital suffered great damage and the patients were left without oxygen resulting in the death of one child.”

Al-Kalhalut highlighted that the power supply to life-sustaining equipment in the intensive care unit, which housed several children, was also severed. As a result, the hospital has been unable to offer any services beyond the intensive care unit, where eight patients were currently receiving treatment.

“No one could reach the hospital and ambulances on the road were also targeted,” the Palestinian doctor said.

The director appealed to the Red Cross and international bodies for urgent assistance to rescue the staff and patients of Al-Nasr Children’s Hospital.

Almost all hospitals in the besieged Gaza Strip came under Israeli attacks and airstrikes in the last 24 hours, including Al-Shifa, which saw at least four rounds of Israeli airstrikes in the same period.

Israel has launched relentless air and ground attacks on the Gaza Strip – including hospitals, residences, and houses of worship – since a cross-border attack by the Palestinian resistance group Hamas on Oct. 7.

At least 11,078 Palestinians have been killed, including 4,506 children and 3,027 women. The Israeli death toll, meanwhile, is nearly 1,600, according to official figures.

*Writing by Ikram Kouachi