The controversies over Israel’s attacks on health infrastructures are always in the sights of international humanitarian organizations, and each time the IDF refutes the statements by giving the explanation that Hamas and its allies use hospital infrastructures as shelters for their offensive actions, thus depriving the structures of their immunity.
It is nothing new for Islamic groups to use healthcare infrastructures to hide or create activities within hospitals. In this regard, we remember what ISIS did in Raqqa: under the pediatric hospital it had built the Daesh communication network in which the services of A’Maq, the weekly al Naba and the magazines Dabiq, then Rumiyah, etc. were processed. Infrastructure destroyed through French bombing of the hospital.
On February 15, the IDF carried out yet another attack in the courtyard of the Nasser hospital, west of Khan Yunis, south of the Gaza Strip. Smoke rose from inside the hospital at 06:50 after some parts of it had been bombed; the fate of the medics and wounded inside is unknown.
And the IDF again explained that: “We have reliable information according to which Hamas was holding hostages in the Nasser hospital. It seems that the terrorists also operate from inside the hospital.” The news was announced by IDF spokesperson, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari.
Let us remember that the IDF is strongly committed to finding and returning Israeli hostages to their families, and in the case of the Nasser hospital we are talking about hostage bodies.
“Since the Hamas massacre on October 7, the IDF has worked to fulfill its mission to dismantle Hamas and bring our hostages home.” Hagari continued. “We operate against Hamas terrorists wherever they hide. And, as we have demonstrated with the success of our hostage rescue missions, we are committed to our mission to bring our hostages home. Unfortunately, we know that some hostages are no longer alive. We are committed to finding and returning their bodies.”
In recent days, the IDF and the ISA brought home two Israeli-Argentine hostages who were prisoners in Rafah.
Hagari explained: “We conduct precise rescue operations – as we have done in the past – where our intelligence indicates that hostage bodies may be held. We have credible information from several sources, including released hostages, indicating that Hamas was holding hostages at the Nasser hospital in Khan Yunis and that there may be bodies of our hostages in the Nasser hospital facility.”
The IDF has said in the past that Hamas systematically uses hospitals as centers for their activities, as has happened in Shifa, Rantisi Hospital, Al Amal Hospital and many other hospitals across Gaza.
“According to intelligence assessments and information collected on the ground, more than 85% of the main medical facilities in Gaza have been used by Hamas for terrorist operations. Since at this moment the Hamas terrorists are probably hiding behind the wounded civilians inside the Nasser hospital and it seems that they also used the hospital to hide our hostages, the IDF is conducting a precise and limited operation interior of the Nasser hospital”.
Operating in the field, Hagari explained: “This delicate operation was prepared with precision and is conducted by IDF special forces who have undergone specific training. A key objective defined by our military mission is to ensure that Nasser Hospital continues its important function of treating patients in Gaza. We communicated this in several conversations we had in recent days with hospital staff. We stressed that there is no obligation for either patients or staff to evacuate the hospital. However, we have urged other Gazans, in Arabic, over the phone and over loudspeakers, to move away from the danger Hamas exposes them to, through a humanitarian corridor we have opened to protect unaffected civilians in Gaza.”
According to the IDF, the transfer of medical supplies and equipment to Nasser Hospital, oxygen cylinders and electricity fuel at the hospital’s request have been coordinated with personnel in Gaza to ensure that its essential functions continue uninterrupted. This was done in coordination with international organizations.
Hagari reported that: “We have Arabic-speaking IDF doctors and officers on site to communicate with staff and patients inside Nasser Hospital. Our message is clear: we do not seek to harm innocent civilians. Let us find our hostages and bring them home. We try to hunt down Hamas terrorists wherever they hide.”
On February 13, the Gaza Health Spokesperson said: “The situation is worsening and becoming more catastrophic in the Nasser Medical Complex and enemy forces are demolishing the northern wall of the compound. Israeli enemy forces inform the administration of the Nasser Medical Complex to evacuate evacuees from the complex. There were deaths and injuries among those displaced due to Israeli attacks as they left the compound.”
Among the problems to be addressed is the management of waste water which continues to flood the emergency room of the Nasser Medical Complex and hinders the work of the health teams. This encourages the spread of epidemics and the contamination of patients’ wounds in the Nasser departments due to the accumulation of waste, which portends a health disaster.
On February 15, while Hagari was parading, the Director of the Specialized Surgery Hospital in the Nasser Complex declared: “The children’s and maternity hospital is now being evacuated to the old Nasser Hospital building and the surgery department has been evacuated. Dozens of injured people are in critical condition and cannot leave the Nasser Medical Complex.”
Antonio Albanese e Graziella Giangiulio
