Rights groups say repeated attacks on medical facilities, doctors and ambulances must be investigated for war crimes
\nGaza Strip
\nIsraeli snipers have killed at least 21 Palestinians after they opened fire on displaced civilians trying to reach Nasser Hospital in southern Gaza\u2019s Khan Younis.
\nAl Jazeera\u2019s Hani Mahmoud, reporting from Rafah, said on Friday that snipers had surrounded the hospital and were \u201cshooting at every moving object\u201d as people were trying to reach it from two densely populated residential neighbourhoods near the facility.
\n\u201cThe area around the hospital is very dangerous, and it has turned into a combat zone,\u201d he said, noting that the hospital is the only place right now in Khan Younis that has some water left.
\nRights groups said the Israeli military\u2019s repeated attacks on medical facilities, doctors, nurses, medics and ambulances must be investigated for war crimes.
\n\u201cHospitals and other medical facilities are civilian objects that have special protections under international humanitarian law or the laws of war,\u201d Human Rights Watch noted.
\nMahmoud said this represents a \u201cnew trend of targeted killings\u201d by Israeli snipers, who shoot Palestinians in the streets. People inside the medical facility would also become easy targets by trying to retrieve the bodies.
\n\u201cAttack drones also targeted a group of young people who gathered on the roof of the hospital. Because of the communications blackout, they were trying to get signals for the internet on their mobile phones so they could communicate with family members,\u201d Mahmoud reported.
\nAlong with al-Amal Hospital, Nasser Hospital is the largest in Khan Younis. Both medical facilities have been under siege for weeks as the Israeli army said it \u201cencircled\u201d the area and ramped up its offensive from air, land and sea.
\nMany Palestinians, who had been forcibly displaced by previous Israeli attacks in other areas, are now left with few options inside Nasser Hospital, along with limited medical staff and patients, all of whom have little to eat or drink.
\nThe Israeli military has destroyed or heavily damaged dozens of medical facilities across the Gaza Strip since the start of the war on October 7.
\nThe Palestine Red Crescent Society said on Friday that al-Quds Hospital in northern Gaza City also suffered significant damage as a result of being fired on by Israeli tanks.
\n\u201cThe Israeli army deliberately targeted the society\u2019s headquarters and vehicles to put them out of service,\u201d Red Crescent spokesperson Raed al-Nims said.
\nThis is while hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have been in the past few weeks forced to flee Khan Younis to Rafah further south, which lies at the border with Egypt.
\nMore than half of Gaza\u2019s population of 2.3 million is now in Rafah, the last place previously designated a \u201csafe zone\u201d by the Israeli army. Israel has said it plans to launch a ground assault on Rafah soon, ignoring warnings of a \u201ccatastrophe\u201d by the United States and the United Nations.
\n\u201cI think that we should push to avoid the tragedy instead of pushing for things to facilitate the tragedy,\u201d said UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Friday after being asked if he would urge for the border with Egypt to be opened to displace Palestinians out of the Gaza Strip.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Rights groups say repeated attacks on medical facilities, doctors and ambulances must be investigated for war crimes Gaza Strip Israeli snipers have killed at least 21 Palestinians after they opened fire on displaced civilians trying to reach Nasser Hospital in southern Gaza\u2019s Khan Younis. Al Jazeera\u2019s Hani Mahmoud, reporting from Rafah, said on Friday that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":386242,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-386210","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n