Babies were transferred from Al-Shifa Hospital to Egypt on Sunday. [Picture: New York Times]
More than two-dozen babies were successfully evacuated from the besieged Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza, Palestine, on Sunday. However, nearly 300 severely injured patients remain trapped as the Israeli Defence Force (IDF) occupies the compound in what they call a search of Hamas operations.
A total of 31 premature babies were transferred from the main hospital in Gaza to Rafah, Egypt. The newborns, said to be in an “extremely critical condition”, were born into an increasingly brutal occupation.
Mohamed Zaqout, director of hospitals in Gaza, said the babies were suffering from dehydration, hypothermia and sepsis. At least four others did not survive to see the day of evacuation.
SMread: The Gaza’s don’t need our expertise, they need our solidarity
Hamas operations in Al-Shifa
Apartheid Israel has repeatedly claimed the existence of a Hamas command centre underneath the hospital to justify its actions in and around the compound. This was despite strong condemnation from human rights groups, governments and activists.
An Israeli soldier has even become the subject of a meme on the Internet for mistaking an Arabic calendar for a “list” of Hamas operatives. However, Palestinian officials have refuted an Israeli claim that it found a 55m tunnel under Al-Shifa as a “pure lie”.
Director of Al-Shifa hospital, Dr Muhammad Abu Salima, is pressing the World Health Organisation (WHO) and United Nations (UN) to speed up the evacuation of medical teams and patients from the hospital.
Describing the dire conditions in the hospital, 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”.
All of this while the terrorist occupation army edges closer to the Indonesian Hospital and the murder toll breaches the 13 000 mark.
