West News Wire: Palestinian officials claim that Israeli forces have attacked another hospital in northern Gaza. A group of twenty-eight preterm newborns were evacuated from al-Shifa Hospital in the besieged Gaza Strip and sent to Egypt for urgent treatment.
The infants had been patients at al-Shifa, the biggest hospital in Gaza; during the Israeli military’s air and ground assault on Gaza City, multiple other children died there after their incubators stopped functioning due to a shortage of fuel.
In order to stabilize their condition before traveling to Egypt via the Rafah border crossing on Monday, the babies were sent on Sunday to the Al-Helal L-Emirati Maternity Hospital in southern Gaza.
“Three babies still remain at the Emirati hospital and continue to receive treatment,” a World Health Organization (WHO) spokesperson told the Reuters news agency.
“All babies are fighting serious infections and continue needing health care.”
The largest hospital in Gaza, al-Shifa Hospital, was taken over by Israeli forces last week in an attempt to find what they claimed to be a Hamas command center and tunnel network hidden beneath the building. The claims have been refuted by Hamas.
Hundreds of patients, medical personnel, and displaced residents moved to the southern Gaza Strip over the weekend as a result of the Israeli offensive from al-Shifa.
Hospital officials report that eight infants have passed away since al-Shifa doctors voiced concerns about the condition of the hospital for premature babies and the scarcity of clean water and medications in the neonatal ward.
The Palestinian Ministry of Health reported that on Monday, artillery bombardment at another hospital in northern Gaza resulted in at least 12 deaths and numerous injuries.
The ministry said hundreds of people were trapped at the facility, which was encircled by Israeli tanks.
Journalists reporting from the hospital, called the conditions there “chaotic.”
“Patients are in an overwhelming state of panic,” he said to news channels. “The victims are accumulating on the ground.”
The head of WHO stated that the attack on the Indonesian hospital “appalled” the United Nations organization.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus posted on X, formerly Twitter, saying, “Health workers and civilians should never have to be exposed to such horror, and especially while inside a hospital.”
The hospital was constructed in 2016 with funding from Indonesia, and its foreign minister denounced the bombing, calling it a “clear violation of international humanitarian laws.”
“Every nation, particularly those with close links to Israel, should utilize all of its resources and influence to persuade Israel to stop its atrocities,” Retno Marsudi said.
“We are very concerned about the fate of our colleagues and the fate of wounded and patients as well as [displaced] people who may have still [been] sheltering there. No ambulances can reach them, and we’re afraid the wounded will die,” said Nahed Abu Taaema, director of Nasser Hospital in southern Gaza.
Like most hospitals and clinics in the northern half of the Gaza Strip, the Indonesian Hospital has largely ceased operations but is sheltering patients, staff and displaced people who have sought shelter at the site after Israel launched its assault on Gaza last month.
