A baby died in an incubator at Gaza’s largest hospital after the center lost power, and another person was killed by an Israeli projectile in intensive care, a Palestinian Health Ministry spokesman said on Saturday.
The Israeli military, which residents say has been fighting Hamas gunmen throughout the night in and around Gaza City, where the hospital is located, did not immediately respond to questions about the Health Ministry spokesman’s comments. , Ashraf Al-Qidra.
“The situation is worse than anyone can imagine. We are under siege inside the Al Shifa Medical Complex, and the occupation has targeted most of the buildings inside,” said Qidra, who represents the Health Ministry in the Gaza controlled by Hamas.
The Israeli military has claimed that Hamas militants who attacked southern Israel last month have placed command centers under the Shifa hospital and others in Gaza, making them vulnerable to being considered military targets.
“It is necessary to evacuate the hospitals in order to confront Hamas. We intend to confront Hamas, which has turned the hospitals into fortified positions,” he said in response to a question about whether he planned to enter Gaza hospitals at some point. moment.
Hamas has denied that it uses civilians as human shields and health officials say the growing number of Israeli attacks on or near hospitals endangers patients, medical staff and the thousands of evacuees who have taken shelter in their facilities. buildings or near them.
Qidra said Israeli army snipers occupying the rooftops of buildings near the hospital occasionally fired at the medical complex, limiting the ability of doctors and people to move.
The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The hospital suspended operations after fuel ran out, Qidra said, adding that “as a result, one newborn died inside the incubator, where there are 45 babies.”
Hamas denies using the hospital for its military purposes and has asked the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross to send missions to Shifa to investigate the Israeli allegations.
The Palestinian Health Ministry, based in the Israeli-occupied West Bank – separated from Gaza by Israel and run by a rival Hamas administration – separately said 39 babies were in danger at the hospital.
Minister Mai Alkaila had initially said that they had died because they could not get oxygen or medicine to them and the electricity was cut off, but the ministry later corrected the information to say that one had died and 39 were at risk.
“39 premature babies at the Al-Shifa Medical Complex are threatened with death at any moment, and one of them died this morning. The lack of fuel in the hospitals will be a death sentence for the rest. The incubators will only be able to operate until this later, after which the fuel will run out.
Contacted again about the ministry’s statement, Qidra reiterated that there was no electricity at the hospital and no internet.
“We are working hard to keep them alive, but we fear we will lose them in the next few hours,” he said. “There is no electricity in the hospital.”
On Friday, Gaza authorities had said missiles landed in a courtyard in Al Shifa, killing one person and wounding others. The Israeli military later said that a misfired projectile launched by Palestinian militants in Gaza had hit Shifa.
(Reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi in Gaza; Additional reporting by Ari Rabinovitch and other Reuters bureaus; Writing by Matt Spetalnick and Philippa Fletcher; Editing in Spanish by Manuel Farías)
Source: Ambito
