After more than four months of war between Israel and Hamas, the violence is concentrated in the south of the besieged and devastated Gaza Strip, between the towns of Khan Younes and Rafah.
Since Thursday, Israeli forces have been carrying out a military operation in the Nasser hospital, the largest in the area.
This Friday, Hamas announced the death of several people.
What happened ?
Israel explained on Thursday that it had launched a “targeted operation” on the Nasser hospital in search of “bodies of hostages”.
This Friday, the army claimed to have arrested “more than 20 terrorists who participated” in the Hamas attacks in Israel on October 7, among “dozens of suspects” arrested at Nasser hospital.
She added that she found in the vicinity of the hospital complex "remains of mortar shells, grenades and other weapons belonging" to Hamas, which according to her had used the hospital to fire on Israeli forces in recent weeks.
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The Israeli army justified this attack after having had “credible intelligence” indicating that Hamas had held hostages there “and that there might be bodies of hostages” on site.
She indicates that she is continuing her operation.
A member of the Hamas politburo, Izzat al-Rishq, on Friday called Israeli accusations that the Nasser hospital, like others in the territory, being used as a base by Hamas, a “lie”.
More oxygen supply
The Hamas Health Ministry announced Friday that at least four patients had died after power outages caused oxygen distribution to stop at the facility.
“The generators of the hospital complex stopped and the electricity was cut” in the Nasser hospital in Khan Younes, the ministry said in a press release.
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He added he feared for the lives of nine other patients in the hospital's intensive care unit and nursery, and held "Israeli forces responsible for the lives of patients and teams" there.
The ministry indicated Thursday that several hundred people (patients, medical staff and other civilians) were still inside the hospital complex.
Doctors described an untenable situation in this hospital surrounded by fighting, where thousands of displaced people had taken refuge before starting to flee in chaotic conditions.
Doctors Without Borders said Thursday that one of its teams continued to work in the Nasser hospital “in almost impossible conditions.”
Thousands of refugees
The Nasser hospital has in recent weeks received thousands of civilians fleeing the war, some of whom fled in recent days in chaotic conditions as the heat of the fighting between the army and the Palestinian Islamist movement grew closer.
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The war was sparked by the unprecedented Hamas attack on October 7 in southern Israel, which resulted in the deaths of more than 1,160 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP count based on official Israeli data.
Israel launched an offensive in the Gaza Strip in retaliation which left 28,775 dead, the vast majority civilians, according to the latest report on Friday from the Hamas Ministry of Health.