Thirty-One Babies Evacuated from Gaza’s al-Shifa Hospital

Thirty-one premature babies have been evacuated from northern Gaza’s al-Shifa hospital to southern Gaza, where they are being prepared to enter Egypt for medical care.

When the Israeli siege on al-Shifa began, there were 39 babies in the Neonatal ICU who were removed from their incubators due to power outages. Eight died before they could be evacuated, including two who were pronounced dead just before the rescue operation.

The World Health Organization (WHO) said the 31 babies were evacuated in Palestinian Red Crescent ambulances. The WHO said that doctors found “all the babies are fighting serious infections due to lack of medical supplies and impossibility to continue infection control measures in al-Shifa Hospital.”