The Nasser Hospital[a] (orNasser Medical Complex) was one of the largest hospitals in the Gaza Strip, Palestine.
As of 18 February 2024, the hospital is no longer functional.[1] During the Israel–Hamas War, Nasser was one of the final active hospitals in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip, and was one of the last functioning hospitals in all of Gaza.[2]
In 1957, during the Egyptian occupation of the Gaza Strip, the Egyptian authorities built Nasser Hospital on the site of a quarantine and febrile disease hospital established by the British Mandate government in the 1940s.[3] The hospital opened its doors in 1960 and was named after Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser.
In 1972, the hospital closed for construction to double its capacity from 112 beds. The hospital reopened in February 1974. In December 1984, the Israeli authorities closed down the hospital's orthopedic department, saying that it was contaminated, and transferred its activities to Al-Shifa Hospital.[4]
The hospital was shelled multiple times throughout the war.[5] During the war, it received significant international media coverage due to the death of a 13-year-old amputee, Donia Abu Mohsen, who had survived a previous Israeli airstrike that had killed her entire family.[5][6][7]
During the 2023 Israel–Hamas war, according to a freed hostage who claimed to be held there, the hospital was used by Hamas to hold hostages kidnapped from Israel during the 2023 Hamas-led attack on Israel.[8][9]
In early 2024, as Israeli forces advanced deeper south, bombing in the areas around the hospital intensified. This sparked worries that the hospital may be forced to shut down. According to a report by The Guardian on the 19 January 2024:
Medical staff said the fighting had come within metres of Nasser hospital, the biggest hospital still partly working in Gaza, over the past week. It has been receiving hundreds of wounded patients every day since the fighting shifted to the south last month. There are fears it could be forced to close because of Israeli bombardments and evacuation orders.[10]
According to the IDF, it had "credible intelligence" that militants were hiding in the hospital, some posing as medical staff, and that Israeli hostages or bodies of Israeli hostages are held in the Nasser hospital facility.[11][12] Israeli soldiers entered the hospital on 15 February 2024.[13] Five patients died after Israeli forces cut power to the hospital during the raid.[14][15] On 18 February, the World Health Organization said the hospital could no longer serve its patients, and that the hospital was no longer functional.[1]Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus attributed the hospital's inability to continue operating to the Israeli siege and raid.[1]
As of 23 February, the hospital no longer had food or water and had no oxygen for patients.[16] The Gaza Health Ministry attributed thirteen patient deaths to the lack of electricity and oxygen at the hospital.[16]
In late April, a mass grave containing nearly 300 bodies was discovered following the withdrawal of Israeli forces earlier in the month, according to Gazan civil defence workers. In regards to the April 2024 reports of mass graves, the IDF has stated that any “claim that the IDF buried Palestinian bodies is baseless and unfounded.” The IDF told CNN that during its operation “in the area of Nasser Hospital, in accordance to the effort to locate hostages and missing persons, corpses buried by Palestinians in the area of Nasser Hospital were examined.” They further stated that “Bodies examined, which did not belong to Israeli hostages, were returned to their place.[17]
^Note: "Nasser" (Arabic: ناصر) and "Nasr" (Arabic: نصر) are close, but different words, sometimes confused in press in the names of hospitals, e.g., here.
