By Gulsen Topcu
ISTANBUL (AA) - The World Health Organization (WHO) helped evacuate 14 patients from Nasser Hospital in the city of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, which is under siege by Israeli forces, Gaza’s Health Ministry said Sunday.
The patients, including five on dialysis and three in intensive care, were transported to hospitals in the south as a result of the WHO’s efforts, the ministry said in a statement.
It said pressure was being maintained on Israel to evacuate all patients from the hospital, which it has converted into a military barracks after cutting off its electricity and preventing oxygen devices from operating.
Earlier, the ministry noted that 150 patients at the hospital had been left untreated and 70 health personnel were detained. It added that Israel did not allow the patients to be transferred to other hospitals.
The Health Ministry in Gaza had previously announced that the number of patients who had died in intensive care at Nasser Hospital due to its generator stopping and oxygen devices not working had risen to eight.
Israel has pounded the Gaza Strip since an Oct. 7 attack by the Palestinian group Hamas. The ensuing Israeli attacks have killed nearly 29,000 and caused mass destruction and shortages of necessities, while less than 1,200 Israelis are believed to have been killed in the Hamas attack.
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 is 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.