31 ‘very sick’ babies safely evacuated from al-Shifa Hospital to southern Gaza: WHO
- The infants were moved from the north of the enclave to a facility in the south, and will receive urgent care before being transferred to Egypt
- Meanwhile, Qatar’s prime minister said a potential deal to free hostages seized by Hamas militants on October 7 hinges on ‘minor’ practical issues
The World Health Organization said Sunday that 31 babies were safely transported from al-Shifa Hospital to a facility in southern Gaza.
The evacuation took place on Sunday, and the babies were to be transferred to a third hospital across the border in Egypt.
WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on social media that the “very sick” babies were evacuated, along with six health workers and 10 staff family members. He said they were taken to a hospital in the southern Gaza city of Rafah where they were receiving urgent care.
The Palestinian Red Crescent rescue service said it evacuated 31 babies in coordination with the UN.
It said they would be transferred to a hospital run by the United Arab Emirates in Rafah, which borders Egypt.
Gaza’s health ministry told a press conference the babies and their families would be sent to Egyptian hospitals on Monday.
A WHO team that visited al-Shifa Hospital on Saturday said 32 babies were among scores of critically ill patients stranded at the hospital, where Israeli forces have been operating since last week.
The WHO team had said earlier on Sunday that 291 patients were left at al-Shifa after Israeli troops had others evacuate. Those left behind included the babies in extremely critical condition, trauma patients with severely infected wounds, and others with spinal injuries who were unable to move.
The WHO team was able to tour al-Shifa Hospital for an hour after about 2,500 displaced people, mobile patients and medical staff left the sprawling compound on Saturday morning, the WHO said.
It said 25 medical staff remained, along with the patients.
“Patients and health staff with whom they spoke were terrified for their safety and health, and pleaded for evacuation,” the agency said, describing al-Shifa as a death zone. It said it hoped to evacuate patients to southern Gaza, where hospitals are also overwhelmed.
Israel has long alleged that Hamas maintains a sprawling command post inside and under al-Shifa. It has portrayed the hospital as a key target in its war to end the militants’ rule in Gaza following their wide-ranging attack into southern Israel six weeks ago, which triggered the war.
Hamas and hospital staff deny the allegations. Israeli troops who have been based at the hospital and searching its grounds for days say they have found guns and other weapons, and showed reporters the entrance to a tunnel shaft. The AP could not independently verify Israel’s findings.
Saturday’s mass departure was portrayed by Israel as voluntary, but the WHO said the military had issued evacuation orders, and some of those who left described it as a forced exodus.
Elsewhere in northern Gaza, dozens of people were killed in the urban Jabaliya refugee camp when what witnesses described as an Israeli air strike hit a crowded UN shelter on Saturday.
“The scenes were horrifying. Corpses of women and children were on the ground. Others were screaming for help,” said Ahmed Radwan, who was among the wounded, speaking by phone.
AP photographs from a local hospital showed more than 20 bodies wrapped in bloodstained sheets.
Heavy clashes were reported in the Jabaliya camp overnight into Sunday. “There was the constant sound of fire, gunfire and tank shelling,” said Yassin Sharif, who was sheltering in a UN-run hospital in the camp. “It was another night of horror.”
04:42
Palestinian death toll over 10,000 in Israel-Hamas war, with Gaza casualty figures in spotlight
In southern Gaza, an Israeli air strike hit a residential building near the town of Khan Younis on Saturday, killing at least 26 Palestinians, according to a doctor at the hospital where the bodies were taken.
On Sunday, Qatar’s prime minister said a deal to free hostages seized in the Hamas October 7 attack on Israel now hinges on “minor” practical issues, but no details or a timeline were given.
“The challenges that remain in the negotiations are very minor compared to the bigger challenges, they are more logistical, they are more practical,” Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani told a joint press conference with EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell.
Qatar has helped broker talks aiming to free some of the 240 hostages in return for a temporary ceasefire, a mediation effort that has so far led to the release of four hostages.
“The deal is going through ups and downs from time to time throughout the last few weeks,” the premier said.
“I think that I’m now more confident that we are close enough to reach a deal that can bring the people safely back to their homes.”
Israel’s Ambassador to the United States Michael Herzog said in an interview with ABC on Sunday that Israel was hopeful a significant number of hostages could be released by Hamas “in coming days”.
Qatar seeking Israel-Hamas deal to free 50 hostages and 3-day truce: sources
Israel has vowed to destroy Hamas in response to the October 7 attacks, which Israeli officials say killed about 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and saw the 240 hostages taken.
The army’s relentless air and ground campaign has since killed 12,300 people, more than 5,000 of them children, according to the Hamas government which has ruled Gaza since 2007.
The United States said on Saturday it was still working to secure a deal between Israel and Hamas after The Washington Post reported there was a tentative agreement to free women and children held hostage in Gaza in exchange for a pause in fighting.
Thani said on Sunday it was “counterproductive to see leaks about the negotiations coming out in the media before sealing the deal”.
Israel has so far refused to heed calls for a ceasefire before all the captives are released.
Additional reporting by Agence France-Presse, Reuters
