31 premature babies are evacuated from Gaza’s largest hospital, trauma patients remain

World News@lemmy.world – 77 points – 1 years ago

31 premature babies are evacuated from Gaza's largest hospital, but scores of trauma patients remain

KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip (AP) — Health officials said 31 premature babies in “extremely critical condition” were transferred safely Sunday from Gaza ‘s main hospital and will go to Egypt, while over 250 patients with severely infected wounds and other urgent conditions remained stranded days after Israeli forces entered the compound to look for Hamas operations there.

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Hamas controls Shifa and we hear about 2 premature babies dying, and fuel and evacuations being blocked. Israel has control and now we get reports that premature babies are being safely evacuated.

Well of course, it was a PR disaster for the IDF. Four have died, they have to let the Red Crescent take them before the rest die.

The ones being evacuated are in a really bad condition:

On Sunday the 31 surviving babies were evacuated by the Red Crescent in coordination with the UN.

World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the babies were "very sick", had been moved under "extremely intense and high-risk security conditions", and were now "receiving urgent care in the neonatal intensive care unit" in Rafah.

Dr Mohammad Zaqout, general director of hospitals in the Gaza Strip, told AP some of the babies were dehydrated or had developed gastritis due to unsanitised water. Lack of medications had caused others to develop sepsis, and some had hypothermia as they could not be placed in incubators.

BBC.

They have also lost track of some of the parents.

NO. It wasn't the IDF that saved them. They were so tone-deaf that when the doctors said premature babies were dying because of lack of fuel to generate the incubators, they brought over some incubators knowing there was no electricity to use them... Plain Evil and just another PR stunt for the IDF.

** The evacuation was organized by the World Health Organization and the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. **

*Just a day earlier, a joint United Nations humanitarian assessment team, led by the WHO, entered Al-Shifa to see first-hand the dire circumstances of the facility, the groups said.

They found piles of medical and solid waste filling the crowded corridors of Gaza's largest hospital, according to the WHO. The team saw a mass grave by the hospital's entrance and was told at least 80 bodies were lying there, the WHO said.

This team's trip only lasted an hour and was "deconflicted" with Israel's military to ensure safe passage, the group said.

In that time, they found that several patients have died in the previous two to three days due to medical services shutting down in the facility, according to the WHO. And now there are just 25 health workers for the 291 remaining patients. The premature babies were considered to be in "extremely critical condition," the WHO said.*

Here's the full link: https://www.npr.org/2023/11/19/1214024420/gaza-israel-al-shifa-hospital-evacuation

So NO, the IDF didn't do anything for a single patient in that hospital. But, you know, whatever makes you sleep at night.