Gaza's Nasser Hospital condemns move by MSF to suspend most services

One of Gaza’s last functioning hospitals condemned the move by Doctors Without Borders to pull out of operations over alleged concerns about armed men, claiming on Sunday that the hospital had installed civil police for security.

MSF said in a statement on Saturday that all its noncritical medical operations at Nasser Hospital were suspended due to security breaches that posed "serious" threats to its teams and patients.

MSF added that there had been an increase in patients and staff seeing armed men in parts of the compound since the US-brokered October ceasefire was reached.

Nasser Hospital said on Sunday that the increase in armed men was due to a civilian police presence aimed at protecting patients and staff and said MSF's "allegations are factually incorrect, irresponsible, and pose a serious risk to a protected civilian medical facility".

Nasser Hospital one of few functioning hospitals left in Gaza

Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis is one of the territory’s few functioning hospitals. Hundreds of patients and war-wounded have been treated there daily, and the facility was a hub for Palestinian prisoners released by Israel in exchange for Israeli captives as part of the current ceasefire deal.

"MSF teams have reported a pattern of unacceptable acts including the presence of armed men, intimidation, arbitrary arrests of patients and a recent situation of suspicion of movement of weapons," the organisation claimed. The suspension occurred in January but was only recently announced.

Nasser Hospital staff say that in recent months it has been repeatedly attacked by masked, armed men and militias, which is why the presence of an armed civilian police force is crucial.

Hamas remains the dominant force in areas not under Israeli control, including in the area where Nasser Hospital is located. But other armed groups have been operating across Gaza as a result of the war, including groups backed by the Israeli army in the Israeli-controlled part of the strip.

Throughout the war, Israel has repeatedly struck hospitals, including Nasser, after claiming that Hamas were operating in or around medical facilities. Israel's attacks on hospitals plunged healthcare facilities into disaster, leaving thousands of patients without adequate care.

12 Palestinians killed in strikes across Gaza

Gaza's civil defence agency reported that Israeli strikes killed at least 12 people since dawn on Sunday.

The civil defence agency, which operates as a rescue force under Hamas authorities, said one strike hit a tent of displaced people in northern Gaza and another targeted an area in the south.

Five people were killed and several injured when an air strike targeted a tent sheltering displaced people in Jabalia in the north, the agency said in a statement.

Five more were killed and several injured in a separate early morning strike in the southern city of Khan Younis, the agency said, adding that one more was killed in Israeli shelling in Gaza City.

The agency also said that one person was killed by Israeli gunfire in Beit Lahia in north Gaza.

The Al-Shifa and Nasser hospitals confirmed they had received the bodies of at least seven people.

"Israel doesn't understand ceasefires or truces," said Osama Abu Askar, who lost his nephew in the Jabalia attack.

Dozens of relatives and mourners gathered at Nasser Hospital, where the bodies of some of those killed were laid out in white shrouds.

Men and women stood in prayer ahead of the funeral, facing the corpses in the hospital compound.

Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem in a statement on Sunday accused the Israeli military of violating the ceasefire.

"Targeting of displaced people in their tents is a serious violation of the ceasefire agreement," Qassem said.