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Nasser Medical Complex
Nasser Medical Complex
Geography
Location	Khan Yunis, Gaza Strip, Palestine
Coordinates	31°20′50″N 34°17′35″E / 31.3471°N 34.2930°E
Organisation
Funding	governmental
History
Opened	1960
Closed	2024

The Nasser Hospital^[a] (or Nasser 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]

History

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. It reopened in February 1974. In December 1984, the Israeli authorities closed down the orthopedic department due to contamination and transferred its activities to Al-Shifa Hospital.^[4]

Israel–Hamas war

The hospital was shelled multiple times throughout the war.^[5] The international media reported on the death of a 13-year-old amputee, Donia Abu Mohsen, who had survived a previous Israeli airstrike that killed her entire family.^[5]^[6]^[7] According to a freed Israeli hostage who had been held there, the hospital was used by Hamas to hide hostages kidnapped during its October 7 attack on Israel.^[8]^[9]

In early 2024, as Israeli forces advanced, bombing around the hospital intensified, sparking worries that the hospital would have to shut down. According to a report by The Guardian on 19 January 2024, fighting had come within metres of Nasser Hospital, which was described as the largest hospital still working in Gaza: "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] The IDF said it had credible intelligence that Hamas militants were hiding in the hospital, some posing as medical staff, and that Israeli hostages or bodies of Israeli hostages were being held there.^[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 2024, 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 July 2024, Javid Abdelmoneim, a doctor with Médecins Sans Frontières, reported conditions at the Nasser Hospital, stating, "I've worked in mass casualties around the world and the smell of blood is the same wherever you are. But here in Gaza, the horror really hits home."^[17] In an interview, Abdelmoneim stated that hospital staff were required to prioritize urgent surgeries.^[18] In July 2024, Doctors Without Borders again warned the Nasser Hospital was at risk as fighting approached.^[19]

Mass graves

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.^[20]

Notes

^ 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.