Premature babies taken to Egypt as Indonesian Hospital besieged by Israeli forces

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Dozens of premature babies who were fighting for their lives at Al Shifa Hospital arrived in Egypt on Monday, as 12 people were killed when Israeli forces attacked and surrounded another medical centre in Gaza.

Twenty-eight premature babies arrived in Egypt after passing through the Rafah crossing.

A UN team safely evacuated 31 premature babies – 15 girls and 16 boys – on Sunday from Al Shifa, where services have collapsed due to a lack of fuel. They were taken to Rafah, where three stayed behind – one because its parents had not been identified and another because the parents had not signed consent forms, a doctor told the BBC.

“There are only four mothers among the parents travelling with their babies,” a doctor who accompanied the babies from Al Shifa to Rafah told The National.

“I am so tired of this situation. It’s unbearable.”

Four other babies died in the past week as Israeli forces continued to besiege Al Shifa Hospital complex, which troops stormed on November 15.

Israeli forces also besieged the Indonesian Hospital in northern Gaza on Monday. About 650 patients and another 5,000 displaced people had been sheltering in the hospital for weeks and are now trapped as tanks and snipers surround the building.

“The Israeli occupation is pushing the Indonesian Hospital into its circle of death,” said Ashraf Al Qudra, spokesman for the Gaza Health Ministry.

“This morning, the occupation hit the hospital with artillery and sniper fire. It is now under a full siege.”

He said Israeli forces had “committed a massacre” in killing 12 people and wounding dozens more, and warned the death toll could rise as the hospital had lost some of its crucial medical capabilities.

“The Israeli occupation is trying to copy what it did in Al Shifa Hospital here,” Mr Al Qudra said. “If this hospital falls, then it will become a massive graveyard.”