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Sunday, November 19, 2023

Premature babies evacuated from Gaza's al-Shifa hospital

GAZA CITY, Palestine 

Thirty-one premature Palestinian babies have been evacuated from Gaza City's al-Shifa hospital, which the World Health Organization (WHO) has described as a "death zone".

The babies have been taken to an Emirati hospital in the southern city of Rafah, close to the Egyptian border.

Hundreds of people, including patients, left from al-Shifa on Saturday.

The hospital - the territory's largest and most modern - is under the control of Israeli troops.

They have been searching the complex for evidence that it served as headquarters of Hamas.

The group, classified as a terrorist organisation in many Western countries, launched the attack in Israel on 7 October in which 1,200 people were killed and more than 240 taken hostage.

Israel has launched a massive retaliatory operation - involving air and artillery strikes as well as ground troops - with the aim of eliminating Hamas.

The Hamas-run health ministry says the death toll in Gaza since then has reached 12,300. More than 2,000 more are feared to be buried under rubble.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has been occupying al-Shifa since Wednesday in what it has called a "precise and targeted" operation against Hamas.

Doctors at al-Shifa have warned about the deteriorating situation at the hospital, which they say has been without power, food and water for days.

On Saturday, hundreds of people, including some patients, evacuated the hospital, but some 300 critically-ill people remained, as well as more than 30 premature babies.

The evacuation of the 31 babies was first announced by the Red Crescent and the Hamas-run health ministry on Sunday.

The Palestine Red Crescent Society said two babies at the hospital had died before they could be evacuated, on Saturday and Sunday morning.

The head of the WHO, Tedros Ghebreyesus, said the evacuation had taken place under "extremely intense and high-risk security conditions". He added that further missions were being planned to urgently transport the remaining patients and staff out of al-Shifa.

Israel has not yet commented on the evacuation, though it previously said it would help evacuate babies to a "safer hospital".

Doctors at the hospital said newborn babies have died after power for incubators was cut off due to a lack of fuel.

The evacuation of the babies comes after a UN humanitarian assessment team, led by the WHO, visited the hospital on Saturday.

In a statement, the WHO said there was "heavy fighting ongoing in close proximity to the hospital", which mission members described as a "death zone".

Hospital director Dr Muhammad Abu Salima has called on the WHO and the UN to help the medical teams and patients "leave this desolated place".

Dr Salima told BBC Arabic there were about 25 medical staff left at the hospital, but that without water and electricity they were unable to properly care for the hundreds of remaining patients.

"The hospital, now, is a ghost house in the full sense of the word," he said.

"Corpses are spreading out in the emergency department, patients are screaming, the medical staff is quite helpless, while the army is walking freely around in the hospital," he said.

Israel has said Hamas has a command centre under al-Shifa - a claim Hamas has denied - but has not yet provided substantial evidence of this.

Earlier this week, Israel military spokesman Lt Col Jonathan Conricus, said it could take weeks to fully search the medical complex.

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