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31 “very sick” babies have been evacuated from al-Shifa hospital in Gaza.
The WHO confirms this.
The hospital is described as a “death zone” – and several seriously ill and injured patients remain there.
– We are deeply moved and impressed by the extraordinary courage and helpfulness that the care workers in Gaza have shown. They now continue to work under very difficult conditions, writes WHO director Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on X.
Six healthcare workers and ten relatives of the staff have also been evacuated.
The 31 babies are all premature and have survived for several days without incubators. They have been exposed to cold and risk of infection, and pictures have been shared around the world of health workers trying to keep them warm.
The babies have now been taken to a specialist hospital in southern Gaza. On Monday, they will be sent on to a hospital in Egypt along with their families, according to a spokesman for the Gaza Ministry of Health.
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1 / 2 Photo: STRINGER / Reuters
“Mass grave at the hospital entrance”
It is the WHO, the UN and the Palestinian Red Crescent that have retrieved the 31 babies in a joint and very risky operation.
The evacuation comes after the WHO was allowed to visit the hospital for an hour on Saturday.
That hour was enough to establish that the hospital is a “death zone”.
“Signs of shell fire and shooting. The team witnessed a mass grave at the entrance of the hospital and learned that there were 80 people buried there,” the organization wrote in a statement after the visit, according to Reuters.
There were then 291 patients left. In addition to the infants, there were patients with severe head injuries, burns, severely infected wounds, and others paralyzed by spinal injuries.
Total evacuation pending
The organizations are now fully planning for a complete evacuation of al-Shifa Hospital.
The hope is to achieve “urgent transport” of patients to Nasser Hospital and the European Hospital in southern Gaza, among others, within three days.
Hospitals already strained by caring for victims of war.
Injured patients fled on foot
It was on Wednesday that Israeli soldiers entered the hospital to search for the command center that Hamas allegedly has there.
In recent days, staff and patients have lacked access to electricity, water, food and medicines.
Yesterday, people began leaving the hospital on foot following an evacuation order. It is still unclear who ordered the hospital to be evacuated.
Pictures showed sick and injured people, some amputees, making their way south into Gaza.