The Israeli army said on Saturday it would help evacuate babies from the largest hospital in Gaza City, around which there is heavy fighting between soldiers and Palestinian fighters.
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“Al-Chifa Hospital staff have asked that we help evacuate the babies from the pediatric ward to a safer hospital tomorrow. We will provide the necessary assistance,” army spokesman Daniel Hagari said at a press conference.
He did not provide information on the number of babies affected.
Earlier in the day, Israeli NGO Physician for Human Rights-Israel reported that “two premature babies died” after the neonatal intensive care unit at that hospital was forced to close due to a lack of power.
AFP
She also warned of the risk posed to “37 additional premature babies” in this service due to fighting near this facility between Israeli troops and fighters from Hamas and Islamic Jihad, two Palestinian Islamist movements.
A surgeon at the facility who works for Doctors Without Borders (MSF), Mohammed Obeid, also reported the deaths of the two newborns and said an adult patient also died because his ventilator failed. , lack of electricity.
“We want someone to guarantee us the evacuation of patients because we have about 600 hospitalized patients,” the doctor said in an audio recording released by Doctors Without Borders.
In addition to patients, thousands of displaced people have sought refuge in the facility’s premises as Israel relentlessly shells the small Palestinian territory in response to Hamas’s unprecedented attack on its territory on October 7, which Israel said left around 1,200 dead Authorities.
According to the Hamas Ministry of Health, more than 11,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli strikes in the Gaza Strip.