The Israeli army continues its offensive this Saturday, February 17, in the south of the Gaza Strip, and in particular at the Nasser hospital in Khan Younes, where it says it has captured suspects and “terrorists who participated in the October 7 massacre” . For its part, the Hamas Ministry of Health accuses the IDF of detaining more than a hundred patients and medical staff there “without electricity, water, food or oxygen”, subjecting them to “inhumane interrogations”.
The IDF is still threatening to invade the town of Rafah, the last sector of the Gaza Strip where it has not carried out a ground offensive. But after the United States, the European Union also called on Israel on Friday February 16 not to “undertake military action in Rafah which would aggravate an already catastrophic humanitarian situation” in the overpopulated territory. Egypt, bordering the city where 1.4 million Gazans are refugees, appears to be preparing for the possibility of a massive flight and is building a secure zone in the Sinai, according to American media.
Information to remember
⇒ The Israeli army still occupies the Nasser hospital in Khan Younes
⇒ The European Union opposes military action in Rafah “which would worsen the humanitarian situation”
⇒ Egypt would build a secure zone in Sinai to accommodate Gazans
Concerns about the fate of patients at Khan Younes hospital
“The newborns risk dying in the coming hours,” said the Hamas Ministry of Health, worried, about the situation in the Nasser hospital in Khan Younes. Since Thursday, the Israeli army has occupied this large hospital center in the south of the Gaza Strip in search of Hamas “terrorists”.
Five doctors responsible for 120 patients are still said to be in a Nasser hospital building without electricity, water, food and oxygen. Israeli forces “are still detaining numerous medical staff, patients and displaced persons in the maternity building, and subjecting them to interrogation in inhumane conditions,” the Hamas health ministry added.
Six patients, including a child, have died since Friday due to power cuts which caused the cessation of the distribution of oxygen after the assault by Israeli troops on the Nasser hospital. At the same time, around a hundred people were killed overnight by incessant Israeli bombardments.
Doctors Without Borders announced that its employees had “had to flee, leaving the sick behind.” “The situation was chaotic, catastrophic,” Christopher Lockyear, MSF secretary general, told AFP. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the Nasser hospital, one of eleven that remain open out of the 36 in the Gaza Strip before the war, is now “barely functional”.
Friday evening, the Israeli army indicated on its Telegram account that it had discovered mortar shells, grenades and other weapons belonging to Hamas, and captured “dozens” of suspects in this hospital, including “more than 20 terrorists who participated in the massacre of October 7”. She also said she found drugs with the names of hostages written on them.
Houthi rebels claim attack on ‘British oil tanker’
Yemeni Houthi rebels claimed responsibility this Saturday for an attack on a “British oil tanker” in the Red Sea, reported the day before by security agencies and the US State Department. “The naval forces of the Yemeni armed forces carried out an operation targeting the British oil tanker Pollux in the Red Sea with a large number of naval missiles,” said their military spokesperson, Yahya Saree.
The British maritime safety agency UKMTO and the security company specializing in maritime transport Ambrey reported on Friday an explosion near a ship off the town of Mokha. “The ship and its crew are safe,” UKMTO said, while Ambrey reported slight damage. The US State Department then indicated that a missile launched from Yemen had hit a “Panamanian-flagged ship en route to India, which was carrying crude oil”.
“This is a new example of illegal attacks on international maritime transport, which continue after numerous calls on the Houthis to cease their activities,” he stressed, announcing the entry into force on Friday American sanctions against the Houthis, classified in January as a terrorist entity.
European calls to dissuade Israel from invading Rafah
Meanwhile, the international community is increasing its calls to dissuade Israel from launching an offensive in the overcrowded city of Rafah, where nearly a million and a half civilians are trapped against the closed border with Egypt. The European Union said on Friday it was “very concerned” by this prospect, and urged Israel “not to undertake military action in Rafah which would aggravate an already catastrophic humanitarian situation”.
Witnesses reported explosions this Saturday in the center and east of Rafah where at least two houses were targeted by airstrikes, according to the same sources. American President Joe Biden, for his part, called for “a temporary ceasefire” in the Gaza Strip. “I hope that in the meantime, the Israelis will not carry out a massive ground invasion,” he added.
Egypt would build a safe zone in Sinai to accommodate Gazans
According to Wall Street Journal, citing Egyptian officials, Egypt would build a safe zone surrounded by a wall in the Sinai Peninsula to accommodate Palestinians from Gaza. This camp would be part of the “contingency plans” for the reception of these refugees in the event of an Israeli assault on Rafah and could shelter “more than 100,000 people”, according to the American daily.
Palestinian leaders, the UN and many countries have expressed alarm at the catastrophic consequences for the population of such an offensive and denounce the creation of a new generation of refugees with no prospect of return. This is also what the Palestinian refugees in Rafah fear: “I am afraid that this will be a second Nakba and that we will not return to Gaza,” lamented Oum Zaki, a mother, from the agency Reuters. The “Nakba” (or “catastrophe” in Arabic) refers to the forced exodus in 1948 of 700,000 Palestinians.
The Egyptian State Information Services have officially denied participating in any measure aimed at displacing Gazans in Sinai. “Egypt’s decisive position since the beginning of the aggression […] is to totally reject any forced or voluntary displacement of Palestinian brothers from the Gaza Strip to the outside, in particular to Egyptian territory,” said Diaa Rashwan, the head of SIS, in a statement on Friday, according to the same source.