EVACUATED: The World Health Organization (WHO) has released this photo of the evacuation of the infants at Al Shifa Hospital on Sunday. Photo: WHO / X
In an operation led by WHO, the UN and the Red Crescent, 31 premature babies have been evacuated from the Al Shifa hospital in Gaza, which is now described as a “death zone”.
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– We are deeply moved and impressed by the extraordinary courage and contribution of the health workers in Gaza. They continue to work under the most terrible and difficult circumstances, writes WHO Director Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus X Sunday.
He further confirms that the 31 infants have arrived safely at a hospital at Rafah in the south of Gaza after a “very risky” mission.
The condition of the infants is described by the WHO as serious. They were among 291 patients who could not leave the hospital on Saturday.
RESCUED: One of the premature babies transported from Al Shifa hospital to a hospital in the south of the Gaza Strip on Sunday. Photo: STRINGER / Reuters / NTB
– A “dead zone”
After a UN team was allowed to visit the hospital for one hour on Saturday, the WHO urgently asked for an evacuation of the last patients.
“Patients and health personnel that they spoke to are terrified and fear both for their health and life, and they pleaded for an evacuation,” WHO writes in a statement, where the Shifa hospital is described as a “dead zone”.
At the hospital, there were still wounded patients with seriously infected wounds and others with paralysis as a result of injuries to the spine.
AL SHIFA: Representatives from the World Health Organization (WHO) together with the United Nations at Al Shifa Hospital on Saturday. Photo: WHO / REUTERS / NTB
WHO states on Sunday that six health workers and ten family members were also evacuated together with the infants.
The children were transported south by ambulance personnel from the Palestinian Red Crescent, the aid organization writes on Facebook.
A spokesman for Gaza’s health ministry, Ashraf al-Qedra, says the children will be sent on to a hospital in Egypt with their families on Monday.
Missing everything
Israeli soldiers moved into buildings at the hospital earlier this week. In recent days, staff and patients have had neither access to electricity nor medicine.
Doctors and eyewitnesses have said that the Israeli military gave them an hour to evacuate the hospital, and that it happened while Israeli soldiers followed the evacuation with weapons in hand.
Israel, for its part, has claimed that it was only complying with a request to let people leave. The WHO confirms that the military gave the order for an evacuation, as they have done several times before.
Below you can see an overview of the southern parts of the Gaza Strip by expanding the map:
Published:
Published: 19.11.23 at 15:11
Updated: 19.11.23 at 15:42
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2023-11-19 14:11:38
#infants #Gazas #largest #hospital
