Ambulance crews of the Palestinian Red Crescent evacuated 31 premature babies from Shifa Hospital on Sunday in coordination with the World Health Organization and the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the group said in a post on its Facebook page.
The babies were transferred to the south of Gaza “in preparation for their transfer to the Emirates Hospital in Rafah” the group added.
Later in the day Ashraf Al-Qidra, spokesperson for the Health Ministry in Hamas-controlled Gaza, told a news conference that the babies had been moved to Tal Alsultan Hospital in Rafah and will be sent to Egyptian hospitals with their families tomorrow.
Four days after the Israeli military stormed the Al-Shifa hospital, the biggest in the Gaza Strip, the World Health Organization (WHO) described the complex as a “death zone” where several patients had died because medical services had been shut down, as the UN chief called for a ceasefire amid relentless attacks on the besieged enclave.
Top UN officials echoed that call to improve conditions for Gaza’s 2.3 million people, 1.7 million of whom have been displaced since October 7. Since then, more than 12,000 Palestinians have been killed in besieged Gaza.
