Attack on Nasser Hospital: Our Team’s Testimony

Three EMERGENCY staff members were working in the Intensive Care Unit of the Nasser Hospital in the Gaza Strip when it was attacked last night. They are unharmed but shaken.

The three colleagues – two anaesthetists and a surgeon – had been working for a fortnight in the surgery ward of Nasser Hospital (Khan Younis).

“We were preparing two patients for the operating theatre, both of whom were seriously injured by explosions yesterday,” says Filippo Pelagatti, EMERGENCY’s anaesthetist in Gaza. “Then we heard an explosion and the walls started shaking. We were taken to a safe room on the ground floor together with the hospital’s staff. As soon as possible, we went back to our patients. Without that surgery, they would have died.”

Only 60% of hospitals in Gaza are either fully or partially functional.

“Death is everywhere in Gaza. Every Gazan knows they could be killed at any moment. Nowhere is safe,” comments Judah Slavkovsky, EMERGENCY’s surgeon in Gaza. “Nasser Hospital has been attacked other times in recent months. This war spares nothing and no one: not even hospitals, not even those who are just asking to be cared for.”

The attack on the hospital is a violation of international humanitarian law. Hospitals are places of care that must be protected, not attacked.

EMERGENCY calls for

• an immediate ceasefire;
• respect for the health facilities, patients and staff, who should not in any way be considered military targets;
• the protection of civilians;
• access to humanitarian aid for the population.

EMERGENCY’s Activities in Gaza

We first entered the Gaza in August 2024. Now, we are working:

• At our Clinic in al-Qarara, Khan Younis, providing first aid, basic medical and surgical care for both adults and children, outpatient reproductive health activities, post-operative nursing care, stabilisation of medical and surgical emergencies, and transfers to other hospital facilities;
• At Nasser Hospital providing surgical primary care and medical training;
• At a primary healthcare clinic set up by the local NGO Creative & Free Thought Association (CFTA) in al-Mawasi.