DUBAI, February 19. /TASS/. Disabled patients at Nasser Hospital in the city of Khan Yunis in the Gaza Strip are deprived of medical aid, Qatar’s Al Jazeera said quoting the Health Ministry of the Palestinian enclave.

According to the agency, at least 150 patients, unable to move on their own, lack medical aid and remain inside the building.

Al Jazeera noted that at least 70 hospital employees had been arrested by Israeli troops while the patients were ordered to evacuate. Some of them left the hospital, while others, including those on dialysis and in intensive care, had to stay. At least four of them died after power and oxygen supplies had been shut down, the lives of six others, including three children, are in danger.

On February 15, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announced the launch of an operation at Nasser Hospital. According to the army press service, dozens of suspected terrorists were detained during the operation, including over 20 radicals involved in the October 7th, 2023 attack on Israel. The IDF reported uncovering "mortar shells, grenades, and additional weapons belonging to the Hamas terrorist organization" on the hospital’s premises.

Tensions flared up again in the Middle East on October 7, 2023, when militants from the Gaza-based Palestinian radical group Hamas staged a surprise incursion into Israeli territory from the Gaza Strip. Hamas described its attack as a response to the aggressive actions of Israeli authorities against the Al-Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem’s Old City. In response, Israel has declared a state of war readiness; announced a total blockade of the Gaza Strip, home to 2.3 million Palestinians; and began delivering air strikes on the enclave and certain parts of Lebanon and Syria. Clashes are underway in the West Bank as well.