The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said on Tuesday the Israeli army fired directly at a hospital in the southern city of Khan Yunis, where civilians are caught amid heavy fighting.
A ministry statement said Israeli tanks were “firing heavily on the upper floors of the specialised surgery building and the emergency building of Nasser hospital, dozens expected wounded.”
The Israeli military said they were “not aware of the event” when asked about firing at the hospital.
Khan Yunis has become the epicentre of fighting between Palestinian fighters and Israeli soldiers, who have pressed south over nearly three months of their ground offensive.
Gaza’s health ministry accused Israeli forces of “cutting off Nasser medical complex, putting the lives of staff, personnel and displaced people at risk”.
“Medical staff are unable to transport serious cases from Nasser medical complex to the Jordanian field hospital nearby as a result of relentless bombardment,” a second ministry statement said.
The United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees said one of its Khan Yunis shelters for displaced people “was hit during military operations” on Monday.
“At least six displaced people were killed and many more injured during intense fighting” around the facility, UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini wrote on Tuesday on X, formerly Twitter.
Although Israel’s military says its troops have encircled Khan Yunis, a spokesperson told AFP they were “not aware of strikes” around the UN shelter on Monday.
As Israeli forces press on, more than a million people are now crammed into Rafah, which abuts the Egyptian frontier.
The UN humanitarian agency described on Tuesday the “indescribable pain” in Gaza where the death toll “climbs relentlessly”.
“In Khan Yunis, fighting escalates, destroying civilian areas and claiming lives. Attacks on healthcare continue to rise,” OCHA wrote on X.
At least 25,490 people have been killed during hostilities in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the latest toll from Hamas-run Gaza’s health ministry.
The war broke out with Hamas’ unprecedented storming into Israel.
A Palestinian woman holds a child wounded in an Israeli strike at Nasser Hospital, amid the ongoing conflict, in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip.
