The 32 premature babies who were in the Al-Shifa hospital, the largest in the Gaza Strip, were removed this Sunday and will be transferred to Egypt, reported the Ministry of Health of the Palestinian territory managed by Hamas.
A United Nations team, led by the World Health Organization (WHO), that visited Al-Shifa Hospital on Saturday reported this morning that there were 32 babies among the critical patients who remained in the hospital after troops Israelis ordered the hospital to be closed. local evacuee.
Meanwhile, in a telephone conversation with the Associated Press agency, Medhat Abbas, spokesperson for the Ministry of Health in Gaza, a territory managed by the Islamist movement Hamas, confirmed the removal of the babies.
According to the UN team, 291 patients, including 32 babies in critical condition, remained in Al-Shifa hospital, including trauma patients with severely infected wounds and others with spinal injuries who were unable to move.
The team was able to visit Al-Shifa Hospital for an hour, following the evacuation of around 2,500 people, mobile patients and medical staff on Saturday.
According to the WHO, which led the mission, 25 health professionals remained on site, along with the patients.
“The patients and healthcare staff they spoke to were terrified for their safety and health and called for evacuation,” the agency said, describing Al-Shifa as a death zone.
Israel has long alleged that Hamas maintains a vast command post inside and below Al-Shifa hospital.
The hospital is seen as a key target for Israel to end militant rule in Gaza, following the widespread attack on Israel launched by Hamas six weeks ago that sparked the ongoing war.
Israeli troops who are at the hospital and have been searching the site for days say they found guns and other weapons, and showed reporters the entrance to a tunnel.
The AP could not independently verify Israel’s findings.
Israel described Saturday’s mass departure as voluntary, but the WHO said the military had issued evacuation orders and some of those who left described it as a forced exodus.
According to the agency, more teams will try to reach the hospital in the coming days to try to evacuate patients to southern Gaza, where hospitals are also overloaded.
Source: TSF
