الكاتب: kafej

Nasser hospital – the main medical centre serving southern Gaza – is “not functional anymore”, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has warned.

Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry has made similar comments. “It’s gone completely out of service,” said spokesperson Ashraf al Qidra.

“There are only four medical teams – 25 staff – currently caring for patients inside the facility.”

Israeli forces raided the hospital in Khan Younis on Thursday after saying it had information Hamas fighters were hiding there.

Hostages may have been kept at the facility, while it is possible some captives’ bodies are there too, Israel added.

Hamas has denied the accusations, calling them “lies”.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, head of the WHO, said his teams had been denied access to the facility on both Friday and Saturday.

It meant they were unable to “assess the conditions of the patients and critical medical needs”, Mr Ghebreyesus posted on X.

“Nasser hospital in Gaza is not functional anymore after a weeklong siege followed by the ongoing raid,” he said.

“There are still about 200 patients in the hospital. At least 20 need to be urgently referred to other hospitals to receive health care; medical referral is every patient’s right.

“The cost of delays will be paid by patients’ lives. Access to the patients and hospital should be facilitated.”

Read more from Sky News:
Netanyahu remains defiant over criticism of possible Rafah offensive
Hamas leader didn’t expect 7 October consequences

Mr al Qidra said the hospital’s water supply had stopped, sewage was flooding emergency rooms and the remaining staff have no way of treating intensive care patients.

The Israeli military said it had arrested at least 100 suspects on the premises of Nasser hospital, killed gunmen nearby and found weapons inside.

It said it does not target doctors and patients.

Sky News has not been able to independently verify the reports.

Israel is thought to be preparing an assault on the southern city of Rafah, home now to more than a million mostly displaced Palestinians.

Alexei Navalny’s body has been transferred to a morgue, according to a Russian news outlet, with guards reportedly “mysteriously” searching prison cells the night before his death.

Many have blamed Russian President Vladimir Putin for the opposition leader’s death, which was reported on Friday, and calls are growing for an independent investigation.

His body has been taken to the Salekhard District Clinical Hospital’s morgue, Novaya Gazeta Europe reports, but as of Saturday no post-mortem examination had been performed.

Latest as Russians defy authorities to lay flowers

A paramedic for the Salekhard ambulance service told the news outlet usual procedure did not appear to be followed in the wake of his death.

“Usually, the bodies of people who die in prison are taken straight to the Bureau of Forensic Medicine… but in this case it was taken to the clinical hospital for some reason,” he said.

“They drove him to the morgue, brought him in, and then stationed two policemen in front of the door.

“They might as well have put up a sign saying ‘something mysterious is going on here’.”

While the death was first reported on Friday, one inmate told the publication there was a “mysterious commotion” on Thursday night.

“It all started when they really sped up our evening search, this usually happens on holidays when the guards are in a hurry to go and celebrate, but [that day] wasn’t a holiday,” the inmate said.

“Then they locked us up, forbade any movement between barracks, and tightened security.

“We heard cars drive on to the prison grounds late at night but couldn’t see through our cell windows what they were.”

He also said guards conducted an in-depth search of the prisoners’ cells on Friday morning, seizing phones and other items.

Novaya Gazeta Europe’s source said he thought authorities appeared wrong-footed by his death, claiming the warden and the head of operations looked distraught.

His mother, Lyudmila Navalnaya, visited the prison – the IK-3 penal colony in Kharp, situated in the Arctic Circle – on Saturday, while his wife shared an image of the two together on Instagram.

She was reportedly told he died of “sudden death syndrome”, but she has not been able to see the body.

Meanwhile tributes are still being laid by the Solovetsky Stone, in Lubyanka Square in Moscow, which is a monument that commemorates victims of political oppression.

Read more on this story:
What we know about the death of Putin’s critic
Russia accused of ‘avoiding’ handing body to family

More than 400 people have been arrested at events in memory of Mr Navalny, according to rights group OVD-Info.

Sky News’s Moscow correspondent Diana Magnay said visitors to the monument are being told by police to move on and not stay at the memorial for a long time.