JERUSALEM, JULY 5, 2024—Nasser Hospital, the last comprehensive hospital in south Gaza, risks being overwhelmed with mass casualties and wounded patients as a result of evacuation orders that shut down the European Gaza Hospital earlier this week, warned the international medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF). MSF teams at Nasser Hospital are seeing acute shortages of medical supplies, leaving patients at risk of losing vital health care.
Nasser Hospital is receiving more patients every day, putting all departments in the hospital above bed capacity, while teams are using dwindling emergency medical stocks. The pediatric department has a capacity of 56 beds, but on July 3 MSF teams received some 100 patients. In the past few days, MSF teams in the orthopedic department have seen a doubling of the number of patients.
"We have children lying on the floor. There are no more mattresses and no more beds, so patients are in the corridors lying on blankets and sitting on stairs," said MSF nurse activity manager Cristina Roldán. "The team has put nails on the wall so we can hang the intravenous fluids and medication we need to give patients, but it's a very difficult situation, and the team is exhausted."
On July 1, following evacuation orders by Israeli forces for the areas east and south of Khan Younis, the Ministry of Health decided to evacuate the European Gaza Hospital as a precaution. Patients were transported in ambulances from the European Gaza Hospital to Nasser Hospital, but many were forced to leave and walk about six miles to get there. Approximately 250,000 people are at risk of displacement in Khan Younis due to the evacuation order.
