Thirty-one premature babies in “extremely critical condition” were safely transferred from Gaza’s main hospital to Egypt on Sunday. In contrast, over 250 patients with severely infected wounds and other urgent conditions remained stranded days after Israeli forces entered the compound to search for Hamas operations.
The plight of the babies, along with the Israeli claims against Al-Shifa Hospital, has become a potent symbol in the devastating war between Israel and Hamas.
An Israeli offensive has taken a heavy toll on Palestinian civilians, while Israel has accused Hamas of using Al-Shifa and other hospitals as headquarters for military operations.
The newborns from the hospital, where power was cut and supplies ran out while Israeli forces battled Hamas resistance outside, were receiving urgent care in the southern Gaza city of Rafah.
They suffered from dehydration, hypothermia and sepsis in some cases, said Mohamed Zaqout, director of Gaza's hospitals.
Four other babies died in the two days before the evacuation, he said.
A World Health Organization (WHO) team that visited Al-Shifa said most of the remaining patients had amputations, burns or other trauma.
Plans were being made to evacuate them in the coming days.
Later Sunday, Israel’s army said it had strong evidence supporting its claims that Hamas maintains a sprawling command post inside and under Al-Shifa.
Israel has portrayed the hospital as a key target in its war to end Hamas’ rule in Gaza following the group’s incursion into southern Israel six weeks ago.
The army said it found a 55-meter (60-yard) tunnel about 10 meters (33 feet) under the hospital’s 20-acre complex, which includes several buildings, garages and a plaza.
It said the tunnel included a staircase and a firing hole that could be used by snipers and ended at a blast-proof door that troops had not yet opened.
The Associated Press (AP) could not independently verify Israel’s findings, which included security camera video showing what the military said were two foreign hostages, one Thai and one Nepalese, taken to the hospital following the Oct. 7 attack.
Hamas and hospital staff have denied the allegations of a command post under Al-Shifa.
Critics describe the hospital as a symbol of what they call Israel’s reckless endangerment of civilians.
Thousands have been killed in Israeli strikes in Gaza, which is severely short of food, water, medicine and fuel.
Senior Hamas official Osama Hamdan dismissed the Israeli military’s announcement and did not deny that Gaza has hundreds of kilometers of tunnels.
However, he said, “The Israelis said there was a command and control center, which means that the matter is greater than just a tunnel.”
More than 11,500 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, according to Palestinian health authorities. Another 2,700 have been reported missing, believed to be buried in rubble.
Attacks by Israeli forces and settlers have killed 215 Palestinians in the West Bank since the war began, according to Palestinian health officials.
More than two-thirds of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million have fled their homes.
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) is struggling to provide basic services to hundreds of thousands of displaced people.
Seventeen of its facilities have been directly hit, the agency said.
Their misery has recently worsened because of cold winds and driving rain.
Over the weekend, Israel allowed the UNRWA to import enough fuel to continue humanitarian operations for another couple of days and to keep internet and telephone systems running.
Israel cut off all fuel imports at the start of the war, causing Gaza’s sole power plant and most water treatment systems to shut down.
Israel has repeatedly struck what it says are Hamas targets across the south, often killing civilians.
The evacuation zone was already crowded with displaced civilians, and it was not clear where they would go if the offensive moved closer.
