GAZA CITY, Palestine

The Israeli army has turned Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis city in the southern Gaza Strip into a military barracks, the Health Ministry in the enclave said on Sunday.

“The Israeli army has arrested 70 medics at the facility,” ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qudra said in a statement.

The complex "cannot handle cases that require extreme clinical care,” he added.

The Israeli army on Thursday stormed the hospital, forcing everyone inside to evacuate and flee for their lives. Yet a small medical team stayed inside to take care of patients in critical condition, who were all held in one building of the hospital by the Israeli army amid a lack of basic needs.

Al-Qudra said electricity outage at the hospital has caused the death of seven patients due to the cessation of oxygen.

“We fear the death of dozens of serious cases,” he warned.

Since Jan. 22, Khan Younis has witnessed a massive Israeli ground invasion, forcing tens of thousands of the city's residents to flee under heavy Israeli bombardment.

Israel has pounded the Gaza Strip since an Oct. 7 Hamas attack. The ensuing Israeli attacks have killed nearly 29,000 and caused mass destruction and shortages of necessities, while less than 1,200 Israelis are believed to have been killed in the Hamas attack.

The Israeli war on Gaza has pushed 85% of the territory's population into internal displacement amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicine, while 60% of the enclave's infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.

Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice. An interim ruling in January ordered Tel Aviv to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.

*Writing by Ikram Kouachi