UN report: Two premature babies at Gaza’s Al-Shifa Hospital passed away prior to evacuation

The UN claimed Tuesday that two premature babies being cared for at the Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza died before the evacuation of 31 others and that the majority of those who arrived in Egypt were unaccompanied.

On Sunday, the UN health agency assisted in the evacuation of 31 premature babies from the Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City, bemoaning that the hospital had become a death zone.

On Monday, 28 of those newborns arrived in Egypt.

According to the World Health Organization, they are all fighting serious infections and continue to need health care.

The other three kids transferred from Al-Shifa in the north of the Gaza Strip are presently in a hospital in southern Gaza, accompanied by their families.

Christian Lindmeier, a spokesman for the World Health Organization, told media in Geneva on Tuesday that the Al-Shifa hospital had been caring for 33 preterm newborns just the evening before the evacuation.

Lindmeier went on to say, “Two of these premature infants died only on that night because of the lack of care available to them”.

Meanwhile, the United Nations Children’s Agency UNICEF reported that 20 of the 28 babies evacuated to Egypt were unaccompanied.

“Seven mothers accompanied eight babies”, said spokesman James Elder in Geneva, adding that the babies included twins.

He went on to say that the reasons for the majority of the babies being unattended varied.

Several parents had been unable to enter Egypt, leaving their children as orphans.

“It all underlines the horrific situation for families in Gaza”, Elder continued.

According to Israeli officials, Hamas gunmen killed around 1,200 persons, predominantly civilians, during a cross-border operation into Israel on October 7.

In return, Israel conducted a relentless bombing campaign and ground offensive in Gaza, killing around 13,300 Palestinians, including at least 5,600 children, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.

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