Speaking from Khan Younis, Al Jazeera’s Tareq Abu Azzoum says premature babies who have been removed from their incubators at al-Shifa Hospital due to a lack of fuel and oxygen are at risk without proper medical care.
Al-Shifa said there are 36 premature babies at risk of dying from a lack of oxygen and they have been placed together on beds in an attempt to keep them alive. Medical staff can only offer basic first aid, and the babies cannot be stabilised without incubators. At least three babies have already died.
Abu Azzoum pointed out that Israel’s ongoing ban on the entry of fuel into Gaza put the babies at risk along with the Israeli bombardment of al-Shifa.
Israeli tanks are outside the hospital, and people inside al-Shifa have accused the Israelis of shooting anyone who goes outside.
“Different appeals have been made by the Palestinian Ministry of Health to international organisations to afford for them a safe corridor to the south of the territory,” Abu Azzoum said.
The reporter said the only hospital in Gaza still able to take the babies was Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis but it does not have the incubator capacity to take care of all the babies.
Source: AlJazeera