Israeli forces impose new restrictions on Nasser Hospital

Ordering hospitals to refuse new patients and making it harder for people to reach health care facilities is a pattern the Israeli forces have repeated throughout the war to close down hospitals. Nasser is the one of the last remaining lifelines for people in need of vital medical care, and its ability to fully function must be restored immediately and preserved.

“We have seen this pattern before,” says Jose Mas, head of MSF emergency programs. “It happened to facilities like Al-Awda and the Indonesian Hospital in northern Gaza, where they were first asked to not admit more patients, and a few days later were attacked and practically shut down. Putting Nasser Hospital out of service would equate to a death sentence for the most severely wounded and critically ill patients—adults and children—and women in need of emergency obstetric care.”

How the new orders disrupt care

On June 3, MSF teams were told that any movement to Nasser Hospital would require authorization and this would have to be requested with at least 24 hours notice. Consequently, medical staff scheduled to work that day could not reach the hospital and staff from the previous night had to continue working for 48 consecutive hours. 

The outpatient department remained closed for the whole day. Ambulances that were able to carry patients to the hospital did so at great risk, as there was a danger they would be shot at because they lacked authorization to travel. Nasser's location on the front line hampers both staff and patients’ ability to access this essential hospital. 

People are exhausted: These new orders come as people’s lives are shattered by 20 months of extremely violent war and a suffocating siege where even the distribution of minimal amounts of aid ends in devastating massacres. In this context, any remaining medical facility is of critical importance and must be protected.

The attacks on health care are not only carried out through military action. They happen through limitations imposed on the importation of medical supplies, forcing doctors to ration pain relief medicine; through displacement orders leading to entire hospitals having to shut down at short notice; and through harassment and confusing orders issued by Israeli authorities, making it more and more difficult to provide lifesaving care.

Nasser Hospital must be protected

It's essential that Israeli authorities protect Nasser Hospital and guarantee full and unimpeded access to both patients and medical staff to avoid more deaths.

Nasser Hospital is a large referral hospital with many specialist wards not found anywhere else in the south of Gaza, including operating theaters, an oxygen plant, ventilators, a blood bank, and incubators. Reducing access to this hospital and blocking the referral of patients who need specialist, emergency care, stops people from receiving treatment that may save their lives. 

In the past few months, MSF medical teams at Nasser Hospital have provided care to over 500 patients in the maternity ward, including women requiring surgical care, and more than 400 newborn babies and pediatric patients. The hospital is full of patients with burns and severe trauma. 

Health care is under attack everywhere in Gaza. On the morning of June 4, Israeli forces struck the MSF supported Al-Aqsa Hospital, the main facility in Deir al-Balah in central Gaza, three times. Although no casualties were reported, it is a stark reminder of how patients, medical staff, and health facilities are constantly at great risk in Gaza.

Our teams have received patients who were critically injured while trying to get food, as a result of the shootings around the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation food distribution centers. This is in addition to the more than 100,000 people who have been wounded in the ongoing bombardment of the Gaza Strip. Hospitals are overflowing with patients.