Palestinian Territories — The health ministry in Gaza said five patients died Friday due to lack of oxygen at one of the war-torn Palestinian territory’s few operating hospitals that had been raided by Israeli forces.
“A fifth patient at Nasser hospital was martyred as a result of the stopping of generators that caused a cut in oxygen supply,” the ministry said in a statement, raising fears for four other patients admitted at the hospital’s intensive care unit and three children in a nursery.
Earlier on Friday it said four patients in the hospital’s intensive care unit had died due to lack of oxygen.
“We hold the Israeli occupation responsible for the lives of patients and staff considering that the complex is now under its full control,” it said in an earlier statement released on Friday.
The military when contacted by AFP said it was checking the report of fatalities at the hospital.
A witness who declined to be named out of fear for their safety told AFP the army had shot “at anyone who moved inside the hospital”.
The health ministry also raised fears over the fate of six other patients in the intensive care unit and three children, saying it held Israel “responsible for the lives of patients and staff considering that the complex is now under its full control”.
‘Pattern of attacks’ –
Medical charity Doctors Without Borders described a “chaotic situation” at the hospital, with one employee unaccounted for and another detained by Israeli forces.
“Our medical staff have had to flee the hospital, leaving patients behind,” it said.
Footage circulating on social media, which AFP could not independently verify, showed rescuers trying to move patients through dust-filled corridors amid fallen debris.
On Friday the Israeli army did not reference the hospital or hostage claims, but said it had carried out “targeted raids” and killed “12 terrorists during encounters” in Khan Yunis.
Roughly 130 hostages are still believed to be in Gaza after the October 7 attack on Israel by Hamas, which resulted in the deaths of about 1,160 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.
Dozens of the estimated 250 hostages seized during the attack were freed in exchange for Palestinian prisoners during a week-long truce in November.
Israel says 30 of those still in Gaza are presumed dead.
At least 28,775 people, mostly women and children, have been killed in Israel’s assault on the Palestinian territory, according to the health ministry.
The UN Human Rights Office said Israel’s raid on the Nasser hospital appeared to be “part of a pattern of attacks by Israeli forces striking essential life-saving civilian infrastructure in Gaza, especially hospitals”.
The World Health Organization has described the Nasser hospital as a critical facility “for all of Gaza”, where only a minority of hospitals are even partly operational.
Israeli strikes continued in the besieged territory overnight, with the Hamas-run health ministry saying Friday another 112 people were killed.
Israel’s army on Friday reported the death of another soldier in Gaza, raising the number killed in the ground operation to 234.
‘Dying slowly’
Nearly 1.5 million displaced Palestinians are trapped in Rafah — more than half of Gaza’s population — seeking shelter in a sprawling makeshift encampment near the Egyptian border.
There are fears about a growing humanitarian disaster without adequate supplies.
“They are killing us slowly,” said displaced Palestinian Mohammad Yaghi. “We are dying slowly due to the scarcity of resources and the lack of medications and treatments in the city of Rafah.”
“There is no medicine,” said Jihan al-Quqa, who was displaced from Khan Yunis to Rafah.
“There are no antibiotics or any other treatments,” she added.
“Everyone is sick, children and the elderly, and there is no medicine.”
US President Joe Biden spoke by phone with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu late Thursday, the White House said, and urged him again not to carry out an attack on Rafah without a plan to keep civilians safe.
Britain, Australia, Canada and New Zealand have also urged Israel not to launch a ground offensive in the city.
Despite international pressure, Netanyahu has insisted he would push ahead with a “powerful” operation in the overcrowded city to achieve “complete victory” over Hamas.
Media reports suggested Egyptian authorities were building a new wall near the frontier with Gaza, amid fears of an influx of refugees.
Truce talks
Mediators from the United States, Qatar and Egypt gathered in Cairo this week to try and broker a deal to halt the fighting and see the release of the remaining hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.
CIA director Bill Burns made an unannounced visit to Israel Thursday for talks with Netanyahu and the head of Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency, David Barnea.
Barnea had already held talks with Burns and Egyptian and Qatari representatives in Cairo on Tuesday, before a Hamas delegation visited Wednesday.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he believed an agreement was still “possible”.
But there has been limited sign of progress.
Netanyahu’s office said it had not received “any new proposal” from Hamas about releasing hostages, and Israeli media reported the country’s delegation would not return to negotiations until Hamas softened its stance.
Netanyahu also said Thursday he rejected a plan for international recognition of a Palestinian state, following reports of the move in The Washington Post.
Russia invites Hamas, other Palestinian factions for talks
Russia has invited Hamas and other Palestinian factions including Fatah to Moscow for talks on the Israel-Hamas war and other issues in the Middle East, an official said Friday.
Moscow, which for years tried to court good relations with all major players in the region, has grown increasingly critical of Israel and its Western backers amid the ongoing war in Gaza.
Russia has invited around a dozen Palestinian groups to Moscow for “inter-Palestinian” talks from February 29, the state-run TASS news agency reported, citing Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov.
“We invited all Palestinian representatives — all political forces that have their positions in different countries, including Syria, Lebanon and other countries in the region,” said Bogdanov, who is President Vladimir Putin’s special envoy for the Middle East.
They include Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, alongside representatives of Fatah and the broader Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO).