Gaza: Nasser Hospital must be protected as health facilities cope with a deadly July

MSF calls on all parties to ensure safe access to care and avoid the evacuation of Nasser Hospital, which would endanger hundreds of patients.

JERUSALEM, July 29, 2024 — The largest remaining medical facility in southern Gaza, Nasser Hospital, is under threat as fighting approaches, Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) warned today, calling urgently on all warring parties to ensure safe access to care and avoid the evacuation of the hospital, which would endanger hundreds of patients.

“Any escalation of fighting near the hospital would obstruct access for patients and medical staff, making it impossible to provide care,” said Jacob Granger, MSF project coordinator in Gaza. “The health system is completely decimated, and evacuating hundreds of patients and medical supplies, hastily or not, would be an impossible task. It would have devastating consequences for people in the area, who have nowhere else to go. Closing Nasser Hospital is not an option.”

Nasser Hospital is providing care for an estimated 550 patients, including newborns, pregnant women, and people with severe burns and trauma injuries. People currently admitted to the hospital need continuous, lifesaving treatment, including those who require a high level of care, oxygen therapy, or close monitoring. As the last main hospital in southern Gaza, Nasser hospital also provides essential support, including oxygen production, to several other health facilities in the surrounding area.

The health system is completely decimated, and evacuating hundreds of patients and medical supplies, hastily or not, would be an impossible task. It would have devastating consequences for people in the area, who have nowhere else to go. Closing Nasser Hospital is not an option.

JACOB GRANGER, MSF PROJECT COORDINATOR

The encroaching warfare comes as MSF teams at Nasser and Al-Aqsa hospitals have been flooded with massive numbers of wounded patients arriving at the same time. In July alone, mass casualty influxes have occurred on 10 separate occasions following strikes and fighting, often in areas where displaced people are sheltering.

“Every day in July has been one shock after another,” said Dr. Javid Abdelmoneim, MSF medical team leader. “[On July 24] I walked in behind a curtain, and there was a little girl alone, dying by herself. And that’s the outcome of a collapsed health system: a little 8-year-old girl, dying alone on a trolley in the emergency room. In a functioning health system, she would have been saved.”

According to the Ministry of Health, levels of blood in the blood bank at Nasser Hospital are critically low after five successive waves of incoming patients, with around 180 people killed and 600 injured. One in 10 people who volunteered to give blood during an MSF-supported Ministry of Health blood collection activity were unfit to donate due to anemia or malnutrition. At Al-Aqsa Hospital, the emergency department hasn’t been able to function properly as it is overwhelmed with patients. Before the war, Al-Aqsa Hospital had some 220 patients beds. Currently, the hospital has admitted 550 – 600 patients.

“Al-Aqsa Hospital is already several hundred patients over its bed capacity,” said Alice Worsley, MSF nurse activity manager. The lack of capacity comes after receiving patients from an Israeli strike on Khadija school in Deir Al-Balah on July 27. “The situation was desperate. Even the most dedicated response can’t always save lives without enough supplies, beds, and medical staff.”

That’s the outcome of a collapsed health system: a little 8-year-old girl, dying alone on a trolley in the emergency room. In a functioning health system, she would have been saved.

DR. JAVID ABDELMONEIM, MSF MEDICAL TEAM LEADER

On July 22 and 27, Israeli forces issued two evacuation orders in Khan Younis, resulting in yet another mass displacement and further shrinking the space where people can go. According to OCHA, approximately 190,000 Palestinians were displaced in Khan Younis and Deir Al-Balah from July 22 to 25.

While the so-called humanitarian zones have proven to be unsafe in Gaza, the existence of such areas does not take away warring parties’ obligations to protect civilians—wherever they are. For nearly 10 months, we have seen that nowhere in Gaza is safe.

MSF calls on all parties to ensure safe access to care and avoid the evacuation of Nasser Hospital, which would endanger hundreds of patients.

MSF response to mass casualties at Nasser and Al-Aqsa hospitals

MSF teams at Nasser Hospital provide orthopedic surgery, trauma and burns care, and support the maternity and pediatric departments as well as a neonatal intensive care unit. MSF teams at Nasser Hospital responded to mass casualty influxes on July 1, 13, 16, 17 and 22.

At Al-Aqsa Hospital, MSF teams are providing rehabilitation care, trauma surgery, advanced wound and post-operative care, physiotherapy, and mental health support. Our teams at Al-Aqsa Hospital responded to mass casualty influxes on July 9,13, 14, 16, and 27.