Media report: 29 premature babies from Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza reach Egypt
According to media reports, 29 premature babies have been brought to Egypt after being evacuated from the Al Shifa hospital in the city of Gaza. The state-affiliated Egyptian broadcaster Al Kahera News reported the arrival of the babies via the border crossing in Rafah in the south of the Gaza Strip. According to the report, all the babies were in incubators connected to medical equipment.
As the AFP news agency learned from medical circles, not all babies can be treated in the Al-Arish hospital, which is around 45 kilometers from Rafah, due to a lack of incubators. As a result, some of them have to be transferred to the cities of Ismailia or Cairo, hundreds of kilometers away.
The premature babies, some of whom are in a critical condition, were evacuated from Al-Shifa Hospital on Saturday and were initially cared for in a neonatal intensive care unit in Rafah. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), none of the babies were accompanied by family members, as the Hamas-controlled health authorities were unable to locate them.
For days, the Israeli army has been on the site of the Al Shifa hospital, under which it suspects an operations center of the radical Islamic Hamas. On Sunday, the army declared that it had found a 55-metre-long tunnel ten meters below the hospital as well as a weapons cache. After a one-hour visit, members of the WHO described the clinic as a "death zone".
The Israeli army's operations in the Gaza Strip are a reaction to the brutal attack by Hamas on October 7. Hundreds of fighters from Hamas, classified as a terrorist organization by the USA and the EU, had invaded Israel and committed atrocities there, mainly against civilians. According to Israeli figures, around 1200 people were killed in Israel and around 240 people were taken hostage in the Gaza Strip.
According to Hamas, which cannot be independently verified, around 13,000 people have been killed in the Gaza Strip since the start of the Israeli attacks more than six weeks ago.
- Despite the ongoing conflict and the presence of the Israeli army near Al Shifa Hospital, the evacuation of 29 premature babies to close Eastern locations for better medical care was necessary due to a lack of equipment at Al-Arish hospital.
- The close proximity of Al Shifa Hospital to the border crossing in Rafah made it possible for the evacuated premature babies to travel to Egypt, where Al Kahera News reported their arrival.
- The media report of the premature babies' arrival in Egypt sparked concern among human rights organizations, as they questioned why the close family members of the babies could not accompany them during the evacuation from Gaza to East Egypt.
- The evacuation of premature babies from Al Shifa Hospital to East Egypt highlights the close cooperation between medical institutions in the region, even during times of war and conflict.
Source: www.ntv.de
