Key Points
- At least 13,000 Palestinians have been killed including at least 5,500 children, Gaza’s government media office says.
- Thirty one premature babies have been evacuated from al-Shifa hospital in a joint operation.
- Two of the infants died before the transfer could take place.
Thirty-one premature babies have been safely transferred from Gaza’s main hospital to another in the south and are to be moved to Egypt.
As Israeli forces fought Palestinian militants around the hospital, a fuel shortage shut down incubators and other equipment, and food, water, and medical supplies ran out.
Head of the premature and neonatal care departments at al-Shifa hospital, Dr Nasser Bulbul, said some babies had already died because of conditions inside the hospital.
A nurse cares for prematurely-born Palestinian babies that were brought from Al Shifa Hospital in Gaza City to the hospital in Rafah, 19 November 2023. Source: AP / AP
Eight premature babies previously died at al-Shifa for lack of electricity and medication crucial to care, Gaza’s health ministry said.
“Because the lack of medicine, the lack of electricity, the cut of electricity, the water is not sanitised and they were with gastritis, dehydration, with vomiting and diarrhoea,” Bulbul said.
“And some of them with sepsis, because they didn’t receive any medications. And they were with hypothermia, because there were not in incubators, but in the cot and in the beds.”
Premature babies separated from family members
The World Health Organization (WHO) said two babies died before the evacuation could take place.
It said the surviving infants were not accompanied by family members during the transfer, as the Ministry of Health had only limited information, and was not currently able to find close family members.
UNICEF said along with partners, it was supporting the identification and registration of the babies to help trace and reunify them with their parents and family members where possible.
Al-Shifa hospital a ‘death zone’
A team led by the WHO that visited al-Shifa, Gaza’s biggest hospital, described it as a “death zone”, days after advancing Israeli forces seized the premises to root out an alleged underground Hamas command centre.
The WHO team reported signs of gunfire and shelling and a mass grave at al-Shifa’s entrance, and said it was making plans for the immediate evacuation of 291 remaining patients, including the war-wounded, and 25 staff.
The civilian death toll in Gaza was “staggering and unacceptable”, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Sunday, again appealing for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire.
Israel has bombarded Gaza since Hamas’ 7 October attack in which more than 1,200 people were killed, according to the Israeli government, and over 200 hostages taken.
Palestinians mourn relatives killed in the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip in front of the morgue in Deir al Balah, 19 November, 2023. Source: AP / AP
More than 13,000 people have been killed in Gaza since 7 October, according to the health ministry in Hamas-controlled Gaza.
Hamas is a Palestinian military and political group, which has gained power in the Gaza Strip since winning legislative elections there in 2006. Its stated aim is to establish a Palestinian state, while refusing to recognise Israel’s right to exist.
Hamas, in its entirety, is designated as a terrorist organisation by countries including Australia, Canada, the UK and the US. New Zealand and Paraguay list only its military wing as a terrorist group. In 2018, the United Nations General Assembly voted against a resolution condemning Hamas in its entirety as a terrorist organisation.
New hope for release of hostages
Israel’s ambassador to the United States has indicated that a significant number of hostages held in Gaza could be released in the coming days.
Ambassador Michael Herzog has emphasised the sensitive nature of the talks involving the hostages but says efforts are being made to free them.
“We are hopeful that we can get a significant number of hostages freed in the coming days,” he said.
“I don’t want to go into the details of these talks. They are obviously very sensitive. The less we go into the details, the better the chances of such a deal. But they are very serious efforts, and I’m hopeful that we can have a deal in the coming days.”
Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed Bin Abdulrahman al-Thani told a press conference in Doha that the main obstacles to a deal were now “very minor”, with mainly “practical and logistical” issues to surmount.
Thousands of family members and supporters of the more than 240 hostages poured into Jerusalem on Saturday, criticising Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s war management and pleading with the government to bring their loved ones home.
As public pressure has mounted, Netanyahu has confirmed Israel’s war cabinet would meet with representatives of the families this week.
Israeli soldiers carry the coffin of Israeli soldier Noa Marciano during her funeral 17 November 2023. Source: EPA / EPA
Israeli tanks and troops stormed into Gaza late last month and have since wrested control of large areas of the north and northwest and east around Gaza City, the military says.
But Hamas and local witnesses say militants are waging guerrilla-style war in pockets of the densely urbanised north, including parts of Gaza City and the sprawling Jabalia and Beach refugee camps.
Hamas’s armed wing, the Al Qassam Brigades, said militants killed six soldiers at close range in the village of Juhr al-Dik, just east of Gaza City, after ambushing them with an anti-personnel missile and closing in with machine guns.
A total of 64 Israeli soldiers have died in the conflict, according to the latest army count.
