19 September 2024
In February this year, the Israeli military conducted a brutal siege of Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, southern Gaza, trapping terrified patients, medical staff, and displaced civilians inside for a week. Once they left, the hospital – the largest in the south of Gaza – was left non-functional and severely damaged, with no water, electricity, food or oxygen.
Many healthcare workers were arrested and detained, some have never returned to work. Doctors at the hospital told Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP) that during the weeks of the siege and attacks on the hospital, they were forced to bury around 250 bodies. Two months later, in April, the Palestinian Civil Defense recovered 392 bodies, including those of women, children, the elderly and injured people, from at least three mass graves in the hospital’s grounds.
Since the start of Israel’s military offensive on Gaza in October 2023, and for decades before then, MAP has been providing medical items and equipment to Nasser Hospital. Following the siege by Israeli forces, MAP quickly responded by coordinating with the Palestinian Ministry of Health (MoH) and international partners to rebuild the hospital’s critical infrastructure.
We rehabilitated key departments, including the intensive care unit, operating theatres, orthopaedic wards, and the haemodialysis unit. This extensive work involved repairing essential systems, restoring sterilisation services, and ensuring reliable power through solar energy. MAP’s emergency medical teams (EMTs) of international healthcare professionals have also been pivotal, providing specialised medical care and enhancing the hospital’s capacity.
We spoke to two medical experts at Nasser Hospital about how MAP has supported their work, and their experiences over the past 11 months. They also shared their pleas to the international community.
“We remain in a state of emergency response, amid ferocious attacks on our people and healthcare system.” These are the words of Dr Ahmed Ibrahim Shatat, a Consultant Paediatrician and Acting Director of International Cooperation and Development at the Palestinian MoH.
His thoughts are echoed by Dr Atef Mohammed Al-Hout, Director General at Nasser Hospital. He described what happened when the hospital was raided by Israeli forces in February:
“We previously had an emergency evacuation plan. We did not expect we will have to execute it due to war, but during fires or earthquakes. We did not expect that – because hospitals are protected under international law, which unfortunately is not enforced in Gaza. Up until the day before the Israeli military invaded the hospital, their liaison officer continuously assured me it was a safe zone and did not need to be evacuated.
“On 14 February, the Medical Complex was attacked with an artillery shell that damaged the orthopaedics department, including a patients’ room. We were ordered to evacuate patients but we had no means of doing so. Patients who were able to leave evacuated, and so did some of our medical teams.
“In the early morning, I was ordered to group all patients – 250 of them, who were unable to evacuate – into a single building. There was no evacuation procedure, and we stopped getting electricity the next day, meaning we no longer had access to water or oxygen. Can you imagine! Two patients died in the first 30 minutes and a total of 13 died during the period [of invasion] because of the lack of electricity, even when I had told the Israeli military no intensive care can be delivered without it.
“We were in so much fear, especially in the intensive care and operations departments, that [the lack of electricity] will lead to the death of all patients in these departments. Solar energy was therefore very significant for us, and MAP transferred solar panels to the Medical Complex. This ensured our continued access to electricity.
“The most difficult moment for me was the arrest of medical teams. I was taken away from them and, on my way to the interrogation room, I saw them stripped, blindfolded, tied up, and left on the ground with no interrogation and for no purpose. It was the most difficult moment of my life. I saw it with my eyes and still cannot un-see it.
“The Israeli military invasion of Nasser left the Medical Complex in need of enormous renovation before it was operational again. The central warehouses within the Medical Complex were also set on fire and suffered near-complete destruction.
“MAP was among the first organisations to support the renovation effort. It renovated the departments of surgery, orthopaedics, intensive care, and operations, which suffered great destruction. The warehouses have largely been renovated now with MAP’s support.
Dr Shatat has been working throughout the emergency in Gaza, and described what MAP’s support has meant to Nasser hospital:
“MAP has provided financial incentives to medical and care staff at Nasser. This support was key at a time when staff were facing direct attacks, salary suspension, and were struggling to hold on further and keep going.”
Since October, MAP has organised nine EMTs comprised of medical and humanitarian specialists, to treat injuries and infections among Palestinians, and to support Palestinian healthcare workers and the capacity of the local health system.
Dr Shatat says of the EMTs at Nasser:
“MAP has brought in medical missions of diverse expertise, in and beyond surgery. Their determination to keep bringing in emergency medical teams despite the closure of the Rafah crossing is deeply significant for us. It means MAP sides firmly with the healthcare system and its service of the people. MAP has delivered extensive support to all hospitals and primary healthcare centres.”
MAP’s efforts have enabled Nasser Hospital to gradually regain functionality, providing lifesaving services to Palestinians who have lived under constant Israeli military attacks and a suffocating siege for more than 11 months now.
Dr Al-Hout praised MAP and looked forward to a lasting partnership to continue rebuilding Gaza’s health system for the future:
“I am so grateful to be working with MAP, and I hope it will continue its support for years to come, beyond this period [of crisis] and including through new projects that we can explore together.”
With your donations, we can continue supporting Nasser Hospital and the wider healthcare system in Gaza.
Photo: MAP’s Gaza team conduct an assessment of the situation inside Nasser Hospital, in Khan Yunis, following Israeli military attacks and a siege of the hospital.
