Two of the 33 premature babies who were scheduled to be removed from Al Shifa Hospital in Gaza died overnight before being flown to Egypt. The World Health Organization (WHO) announced this tragic news on Tuesday, November 21.
The initial forecast was that 33 premature babies who were at Al Shifa Hospital in Gaza would be evacuated on Sunday (19.11.2023) bound for Egypt.
“Unfortunately, two of these prematures died during that night due to insufficient care,” Christian Lindmeier, a WHO spokesman, told a regular press briefing in Geneva.
Of the 33 premature babies, three are still at the Emirates Hospital in southern Gaza, according to James Elder, a Unicef spokesman.
Another 28 also arrived yesterday, Monday (20.11.2023), in Egypt via the Rafah crossing, the only exit from Gaza that is not controlled by Israel. The babies arrived from Al Shifa Hospital on Sunday (19.11.2023) and were transferred to Emirates Hospital before leaving the Palestinian enclave.
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Speaking via video link from Cairo, the Unicef spokesman said 20 of the 28 babies taken to Egypt were traveling without their mothers.
The Israeli military (IDF) said it “helped facilitate” the transfer of the babies from Al Shifa.
Israel, which has been fighting the terror group Hamas since October 7, last week launched a raid on Al Shifa, claiming it was a base there.
Health “tragedy”
Meanwhile, a real health “tragedy” is unfolding in the Gaza Strip due to fuel and water shortages, Unicef warned on Tuesday (November 21).
“If there is not enough fuel, we will see the collapse of sanitation services,” said James Elder, a spokesman for Unicef, during a press conference.
He also emphasized that it is very difficult for the residents of the Gaza Strip to have personal hygiene or even just to wash their hands.
The article “Two of Al Shifa’s premature babies died before being taken to Egypt” – Health ‘tragedy’ in Gaza was published in Fourals.com.