News - Middle East: The Director-General of the World Health Organization expressed deep concern on Sunday about the worsening situation at a hospital in the southern Gaza Strip city of Khan Younis. He emphasized the urgent need for patients and medical facilities to have immediate access, according to Anadolu news agency.

"Nasser Hospital in Gaza is no longer operational, following a weeklong siege and ongoing raids," wrote Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on X.

Despite the efforts of a WHO team and its partners, access to the hospital for assessing patients and addressing critical medical needs has been denied.

"Both yesterday and the day before, the WHO team was not allowed to enter the hospital to assess patient conditions and critical medical needs, despite reaching the hospital compound to deliver fuel alongside partners," he stated.

Tedros highlighted that nearly 200 patients are still within the hospital, with at least 20 requiring immediate referral to other healthcare facilities, asserting that "medical referral is every patient’s right."

"The consequences of delays will result in loss of patients' lives. Access to the patients and hospital should be facilitated," he urged.

On Friday, the Palestinian Health Ministry reported that at least five patients died at the hospital due to a power outage following an Israeli army raid on the facility.

Israeli troops stormed the hospital in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis on Thursday, targeting hundreds of displaced Palestinians who sought refuge inside the facility from the Israeli military campaign.

The Israeli military claims it was searching for Palestinian fighters within the hospital and has reportedly arrested 100 suspects thus far.

Since October 7, 2023, when the war against the territory began in response to operations by its resistance movements, the military has used this pretext to attack and besiege hospitals in Gaza.

The brutal military onslaught has resulted in the deaths of nearly 29,000 Palestinians, mostly women, children, and adolescents.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared on Saturday his intention to launch a ground invasion of the nearby southern Gaza city of Rafah, home to hundreds of thousands of Palestinian refugees.

Netanyahu criticized those opposing military action in the city, suggesting that doing so would mean conceding defeat in the war.

Last week, Netanyahu instructed the Israeli military to evacuate civilians from Rafah ahead of the planned ground operation.

Rafah, which hosts around 1.5 million Palestinians who have fled there from the conflict, is facing significant challenges to evacuation due to the widespread devastation in Gaza and the large number of people trapped in the besieged area, according to aid organizations.