During a break in hostilities between Israel and Hamas, five preterm babies were discovered dead at a Gaza City hospital, the health ministry headed by Hamas announced on Wednesday.
Prior to the implementation of a temporary ceasefire in the seven-week conflict on Friday, Israeli strikes had targeted multiple hospitals located in the northern Gaza Strip, with some of them being evacuated on the Israeli army’s orders.
Spokesman for the Gaza health ministry Ashraf al-Qudra told AFP that physicians were finally “able to get into the ward on Tuesday night” after Israeli forces had barred entry to the intensive care unit of the Al-Nasr pediatric facility.
Qudra added, “the occupation (Israeli) forces left five premature babies” who were found “partly decomposed”.
“The soldiers forbade the families from going near” the newborns before Tuesday, he stated.
When contacted by AFP, the Israeli army stated that it was unable to comment on the situation at this time. The situation of 39 preterm babies who were stranded in Al-Shifa, a significant hospital in Gaza City, earlier this month captured the attention of the entire world. Israeli forces encircled the facility before raiding it.
According to the health ministry operated by Hamas, eight of the infants perished because there was insufficient electricity to run their incubators. After being evacuated, another 31, the majority of them sought medical attention in Egypt.
