A leading medical NGO has urged for a return to a ceasefire in Gaza and stressed that healthcare workers must be protected at all times after Israel confirmed it hit  “Hamas terrorist” target in strikes on the largest functioning hospital in southern Gaza.

The medical humanitarian organization Medicins Sans Frontieres released a statement strongly condemning the deadly March 23 strikes on the Nasser Medical Complex where MSF teams work.

Ahmed Al-Farra, head of the pediatrics department and the director of Al-Tahrir Hospital at the complex, told China Daily that the situation was dire even before the strikes.

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In an interview on March 25, he said that since March 18 nearly 800 people have been killed, with an estimated 1,700 injured being treated in the hospitals in Khan Younis, Gaza of Palestine.

Al-Farra said they are looking after 40 pediatric patients and about 10 are being treated for explosion-related injuries.

Explosive injuries should be treated in another ward, he said, but with that ward occupied some injured patients are being treated in the pediatric intensive care unit.

“The most urgent situation is the lack of medical supplies and we are looking for fuel,” Al-Farra said.

He added that the hospital was relying on solar power and that if ran out, operations would be forced to stop.

World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the strikes that hit Nasser Medical Complex severely damaged the surgical ward, killed two people, including a teenager, and injured eight people.

“Nasser is south Gaza’s largest referral hospital. Thirty-five in-patient beds were destroyed, further straining the health system which is already overwhelmed by injuries due to renewed violence,” said the WHO chief on his X account.

“The WHO repeats: health care is #NotATarget, should be protected, and must not be militarized,” Ghebreyesus added.

The Israeli Defense Forces have stated that the hospital was targeted because of Hamas-related personnel inside, with evidence yet to be provided. Israel has labeled Hamas as a terrorist group and declared war to eliminate it.

The MSF, in its statement, said Israel’s attack “shows a total disregard for the protection of medical facilities, endangered patients, and medical staff and the very provision of healthcare”.

“As Israeli forces escalate their operations in Gaza once again, MSF calls for the respect and protection of healthcare facilities, patients, and medical staff in Gaza, where the health system has been all but destroyed,” the statement added.

The NGO said that two MSF colleagues working in different departments at Nasser Hospital had described the panic among patients at the time of the attack.

"The distance between us and the explosion was so close that we could’ve been hit too,” said an MSF nurse who worked in another ward in Nasser Hospital and was close by when the strike happened.

“Our colleagues, medical staff, patients, and their caretakers were all terrified.”

"Strikes such as these are horrific for staff and patients,” said Claire Nicolet, MSF head of emergencies in Gaza.

“We cannot go back to repeated attacks on healthcare facilities when the health system in Gaza is already hanging by a thread, and no supplies have entered in weeks."

While Gaza's healthcare system has collapsed, the medical needs of people continue to skyrocket and medical workers are yet again forced to fear for their lives while providing care, the statement read.

Not a single hospital in Gaza is currently fully functional, and only 21 out of the enclave’s 36 hospitals are partially functioning, according to the WHO.

During Israel’s war on Gaza, MSF said its teams had witnessed relentless attacks on health facilities and “a complete disregard for patients, medical workers, and International Humanitarian Law”.

This has resulted in “the systematic dismantling of Gaza’s health system”, the statement said.

Since returning to Nasser Hospital in mid-May 2024, MSF said its teams have been supporting the emergency, pediatric, and maternity departments, as well as running a burns and trauma unit.

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Last February, MSF teams were forced to flee after the hospital was shelled by Israeli forces.

In a separate incident on May 24 last year, MSF said its teams in Al-Mawasi primary healthcare clinic were forced to close the emergency room, evacuate the facility, and suspend activities for the day due to close-by shootings and shelling.

“Healthcare facilities, patients, and medical staff must be protected. MSF calls once again for the immediate restoration of the ceasefire and for the resumption of the entry of essential aid and basic supplies, which people in Gaza desperately need,” the statement urged.

Contact the writer at jan@chinadailyapac.com