By Abdul Salam Fayez
GAZA CITY, Palestine (AA) - The Palestinian Red Crescent Society reported on Sunday that Israeli forces stormed the Nasser Medical Complex and Al-Amal Hospital in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip amid heavy gunfire.
“Israeli occupation vehicles are besieging both Al-Amal Hospital and Al-Naser Hospital amidst very intense shelling and heavy gunfire,” the society said in a statement.
“Occupation vehicles are currently surrounding Al-Amal Hospital and conducting extensive excavation work around the hospital,” it added.
“All of our teams are in extreme danger at the moment and are completely immobilized,” it also said, noting that its crews were unable to bury the body of their colleague Amir Abu Aisha in the hospital’s backyard.
Earlier Sunday, Israeli military vehicles suddenly entered near the Nasser Medical Complex, coinciding with a series of Israeli raids in various areas of the city causing deaths and injuries, according to eyewitnesses.
"Amir Abu Aisha, a member of the emergency operations room of the Palestinian Red Crescent, was killed by Israeli gunfire while working inside Al-Amal Hospital,” medical sources told Anadolu.
Thousands of displaced people took refuge in the Nasser Medical Complex escaping the Israeli military operations.
On Feb. 15, Israeli forces raided the hospital in a military operation that lasted 10 days, during which they killed dozens of displaced people, medical staff, and patients inside the hospital, and arrested hundreds more, according to the Health Ministry in the enclave.
Israel has waged a deadly military offensive on the Gaza Strip since an Oct. 7 cross-border attack led by Hamas in which some 1,200 people were killed.
More than 32,200 Palestinians, mostly women and children, have since been killed in Gaza, and over 74,500 others injured amid mass destruction and shortages of necessities.
Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice. An interim ruling in January ordered Tel Aviv to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.
* Writing by Ikram Kouachi