By Mahmut Geldi
ISTANBUL (AA) – At least one person was killed and many others were injured in an attack by Israeli forces on Nasser Hospital in Gaza’s southern city of Khan Younis, a Palestinian news agency said Wednesday.
The attack was carried out on the hospital’s orthopedics section, WAFA reported.
The report noted that the hospital has been under a blockade by Israeli forces for the last 25 days.
The Israeli army on Wednesday forced thousands of Palestinians who were seeking refuge in Nasser Hospital to leave.
Eyewitnesses told Anadolu that the Israeli army ordered the displaced people to evacuate the hospital under its soldiers' fire.
It ordered them to leave in a single queue and head toward eastern areas of Khan Younis.
Military vehicles continue to besiege the hospital, while army bulldozers are destroying its walls in preparation for storming it, the eyewitnesses added.
On Tuesday, the Health Ministry in Gaza said several Palestinians were killed by the Israeli army while trying to exit Nasser Hospital.
Since Jan. 22, Khan Younis has witnessed a massive Israeli ground invasion, forcing tens of thousands of the city's residents to flee under heavy Israeli bombardment.
On Sunday, the head of the World Health Organization said it was deeply concerned about the situation in and around Nasser Hospital in the Gaza Strip, which has been surrounded by Israeli forces.
"We’re deeply concerned about the safety of patients and health personnel due to the intensifying hostilities in the vicinity of the hospital. We repeat: health MUST be protected at all times," Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on X, reiterating his call for a cease-fire.
Since a cross-border incursion by the Palestinian group Hamas on Oct. 7, killing some 1,200 people, the Israeli offensive into Gaza has killed more than 28,000 people and caused mass destruction and shortages of necessities.
The Israeli war on Gaza has pushed 85% of the territory's population into internal displacement amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicine, while 60% of the enclave's infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.
Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, which in 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 Merve Berker