Worried over the possibility of a huge influx of Palestinian refugees from the Gaza strip entering the country, Egypt is hurriedly building a massive walled enclosure near its border with Israel.
In Gaza, Palestinian health officials said five patients died due to lack of oxygen and two pregnant women had delivered children “under extremely challenging and inhumane conditions” at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, which was stormed and occupied by Israeli forces after a weeklong siege on Thursday.
As the World Health Organisation expressed alarm over the appalling conditions at the hospital following the raid, the Israeli military on Friday said it had arrested more than 20 suspects involved in the Hamas’ October 7 attack on Israel.
“Troops located weapons inside the hospital and apprehended dozens of terror suspects,” the IDF statement said, claiming that soldiers had found weapons — including mortar shells and grenades, inside the facility.
On Thursday, Israeli forces shelled the hospital after warning hundreds of civilians civilians sheltered there to leave. “Our forces were in the hospital the last few hours and looking for hostages. We haven’t found anything yet. But we are scanning the area, and we will pick anything that is relevant,” IDF spokesperson Daniel Hagari said during a briefing Thursday, adding that using hospitals “for terrorist activities” as well as holding hostages there violated international laws.
In Geneva, WHO spokesperson Tarik Jasarevic said Friday that “the military raid at Nasser Medical Complex and reports emerging from the hospitals are deeply alarming. Patients, health workers, and civilians seeking refuge deserve safety, not peril in places of healing. Reports of forcing the transfer of many patients into a different building are gravely concerning.”
Noting that the hospital was “barely functional,” with limited ability to provide emergency services, Jasarevic said “critically injured and sick patients remain at the hospital. There is an urgent need to deliver fuel to the hospital to ensure the continuation of lifesaving services…The hospital is the backbone of the health system in southern Gaza and must remain functional.”
Further south, Israeli warplanes struck Rafah, which borders Egypt and has become the last refuge for thousands of Palestinians fleeing the relentless Israeli attacks across the enclave.
Egypt, which had earlier warned that any ground attack on Rafah could endanger the peace treaty with Israel, has fortified the checkpoints along the Rafah border crossing and deployed tanks and troops to stall any exodus of refugees.
The massive walled enclosure being hurriedly built is part of a contingency plan if a large number of Palestinian refugees still manage to get in.
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