The largest functioning hospital in Gaza facing disaster, warns medicines as Israel expands the offensive

Doctors warned of an upcoming crash at the largest functioning hospital in Gaza due to a critical shortage of fuel and an expanding offensive of Israel in the southern city of Khan Eunice.

Nasar Medical Complex was forced to stop admitting patients on Thursday when witnesses said Israeli troops and tanks advanced in the cemetery of 200 m (660 feet) and fired to the nearby camps for displaced families. The forces are reported to withdraw on Friday after dug several areas.

Medical staff and dozens of intensive care patients remain inside the hospital, where fuel deficiency threatens to close life -saving services.

There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military.

On Friday morning, however, it is said that an armored brigade was operated in Khan Enis to dismantle “terrorist infrastructure” and confiscate weapons> earlier issued an evacuation orders for the hospital areas.

A witness told the BBC that Israeli tanks, accompanied by excavators and bulldozers, advanced from the south of the cemetery near Nasser Hospital on Thursday.

The tanks fired shells and bullets until they moved to an area that was previously agricultural land, and several tents belonging to displaced families were set on fire, the witness said. Video footage, shared online, showed a dark dark smoke rising from the area.

The witness added that Israeli quadcopter drones also fired tents in the Navsavi and Al Mavasi areas to force residents to evacuate. Another video showed dozens of people moving to cover against the background of the shooting.

It is reported that one or two civilians standing near the gates of the hospital were injured by stray bullets.

Meanwhile, Nasar medical staff sent messages to local journalists expressing their fear. “We are still working at the hospital. The tanks are only meters away. We are closer to death than to life,” they wrote.

On Friday morning, locals said Israeli tanks and troops withdrew from the cemetery and other areas near the hospital.

Photos shared online later during the day appeared to show deep trenches, dug in the sandy land, flattened buildings, burned tents and crushed vehicles accumulated on top of each other.

Nasser hospital staff said it evaluated whether they could resume patient admission.

On Wednesday, they warned that the hospital was very close to full exclusion due to a critical shortage of fuel.

They said that electricity generators are expected to operate for an additional day, despite significant efforts to reduce energy consumption and limit electricity to only the most critical departments, including intensive care and neonatal units.

If the force comes out completely, dozens of patients, especially those dependent on the fans, will be “in the immediate danger and will face a certain death,” the hospital added.

An Israeli military officer told the Reuters Agency on Thursday that about 160,000 liters of fuel intended for hospitals and other humanitarian facilities have entered the gas from Wednesday, but that the distribution of fuel around the territory is not the responsibility of the army.

There is a shortage of critical medical supplies, especially those related to the care of trauma.

During a visit to Nasser Hospital last week, Gaza’s representative from the World Health Organization (WHO) described it as “a huge traumatic ward”S

Dr. Rick Peppercorn said in a video that the facility, which usually has a capacity of 350 beds, cures about 700 patients and that the exhausted staff operates 24 hours a day.

The director and doctors have reported that they have suffered hundreds of cases of injuries in the last four weeks, with the greater part of them being associated with incidents around the places of distribution of assistance, he added.

“There are many boys, young adolescents who die or get the most serious injuries because they are trying to get food for their families,” he said.

Among them were a 13-year-old boy who was shot in the head and now he is a tetraplegic, and a 21-year-old man who has a bullet filed on his neck and is also a tetraplegic.

On Friday, 10 people seeking help were killed by Israeli military fires near a place to distribute help in the nearby southern town of Rafa. The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) did not comment.

Meanwhile, in Northern Gaza, a senior Hamas commander was among eight people who were killed in Israeli air strike on school shelters, displaced families in Jabalia, a local source told the BBC.

Iad Nasr, who led the battalion of Jabalia al Nazla, died with his family, including several children, and an assistant when two rockets hit the classroom at the Halima Al Saadia school, according to the source.

Another commander of Hamas, Hasan Marie, and his assistant were killed in a separate air strike in an apartment in the al-Shati refugee camp west of Gaza.

He comes as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said a new deal to end fire and release Gaza hostages can only be days after his four -day trip to the United States.

Before flying back from Washington on Thursday night, he told Newsmax that the proposal would see Hamas release half of the 20 living hostages, which still holds and just over half of the 30 dead hostages during a 60-day truce.

“So we will have 10 alive remaining and about 12 deceased hostages (left), but I will also take them out. I hope we can finish it in a few days,” he added.

However, a Palestinian employee told the BBC that the indirect negotiations in Qatar were stagnant, such as gluing points, including the distribution of assistance and withdrawal of Israeli troops.

The Israeli military launched a campaign in Gaza in response to an attack led by Hamas against southern Israel on October 7, 2023, which killed about 1,200 people and 251 others were hostage.

At least 57 762 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the health ministry in the territory.