Killer Israel storm 'besieged' Gaza hospital, martyrs' toll reaches 28,663
GAZA, Palestine (AFP) - Israel sent troops into a hospital in war-torn Gaza on Thursday where it said hostages may have been held, as medics warned the key medical facility was operating in 'near impossible' conditions.
The raid came after days of intense fighting between troops and Hamas militants around the Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis -- one of the largest medical sites in southern Gaza, and one of the few hospitals that are still operational in the territory.
The Health Ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said at least 28,663 people have been martyred in the Palestinian territory during the war between militants and Israel. The toll includes 87 fatalities over the past 24 hours, a ministry statement said, while 68,395 people have been wounded in Gaza since war erupted on October 7.
Israel said it was carrying out a "precise and limited operation" at the facility with "no obligation" for patients or staff to evacuate.
The health ministry in Hamas-ruled Gaza has reported that thousands of people who had sought refuge at the hospital, including patients, have been made to leave in recent days. It has called the situation at Nasser "catastrophic", with staff unable to move bodies to the morgue because of the risks involved.
Nurse Mohammed al-Astal told AFP this week that the facility had been "besieged" for a month and was facing deadly sniper fire, sewage in the emergency room, and a lack of drinking water. Doctors Without Borders has warned its staff there are continuing to treat patients "amid near impossible conditions".
Gaza pounded
The World Health Organization has described Nasser hospital as a critical facility "for all of Gaza", where only a minority of hospitals are even partly operational. The army, citing intelligence estimates and information from the ground, said "over 85 percent of major medical facilities in Gaza have been used by Hamas for terror operations".
Roughly 130 hostages are still believed to be in Gaza after the October 7 attack on Israel by Hamas militants, which resulted in the deaths of about 1,160 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures. Dozens of the estimated 250 hostages seized during the attack were freed in exchange for Palestinian prisoners during a week-long truce in November. Israel says 29 of those still in Gaza are presumed dead.
At least 28,663 people, mostly women and children, have been killed in Israel's assault on the Palestinian territory, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory. Israel launched more deadly strikes on southern Gaza on Thursday, after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insisted it would push ahead with a "powerful" operation in the overcrowded city of Rafah for "complete victory".
AFP photographs show thick black smoke billowing into the sky over Khan Yunis, as Israeli bombardments continue.
