Tiny lives at risk as Al-Aqsa Hospital runs out of incubators

WEB DESK: The neonatal unit at Al-Aqsa Hospital in Gaza’s Deir al-Balah has been pushed to breaking point after dozens of premature babies were transferred from Gaza City, where Israeli operations have intensified. Footage from Thursday showed incubators crowded with multiple infants, while some mothers cradled their newborns on the floor.

“Medicines and medical equipment are in short supply, and there are more babies than nurses. There is only one thermometer for all 27 patients. The same applies to other devices, we wait our turn,” said Um Mohammed Saad, a mother displaced from Gaza’s Shijaiyeh neighbourhood.

Hospital spokesman Khalil al-Dakran said the facility could not cope: “Although we are receiving a large number of premature babies, we cannot provide them with adequate healthcare services due to shortages of medicines, supplies, and space in the neonatal unit.”

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Palestinian media reported that UNICEF has called for the urgent evacuation of at least 25 premature or sick babies after Al-Helou Hospital in Gaza City was reportedly struck.

The war in Gaza began on October 7, 2023, when Hamas attacked Israel, killing 1,139 people and abducting more than 200, according to Israel. Gaza’s health ministry says more than 66,000 Palestinians have been killed since.

Situation for mothers and babies in Gaza has ‘never been worse’, says UNICEF

Mothers and newborns in Gaza are facing unprecedented hardship as hospitals buckle under the strain of overcrowding and severe shortages, UNICEF and the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday.

At Nasser Hospital in southern Gaza, where many fleeing families have sought refuge, corridors are filled with women who have just given birth, UNICEF spokesperson James Elder told reporters via video link from the enclave. “The situation for mothers and newborns in Gaza has never been worse,” he said, describing premature babies forced to share one oxygen supply, each given only 20 minutes at a time.

The WHO said Gaza’s health system is on the brink of collapse. Dr Rik Peeperkorn, the agency’s representative for the occupied Palestinian territory, said he had never seen Nasser Hospital so overwhelmed. “Every corridor has mattresses and patients lying on the floor,” he said, adding that many had fled south from Gaza City, now under intensified Israeli assault.

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Israel has ordered more than a million residents of Gaza City to evacuate, calling its offensive one of the largest of the war as it seeks to root out Hamas fighters.

According to WHO, only 14 of Gaza’s 36 hospitals remain partly functional. Supplies of medicines, blood, and surgical kits are rapidly running out, leaving doctors unable to meet even the most basic needs.

Israel insists there is no quantitative limit on aid entering Gaza and accuses Hamas of diverting supplies, a charge the group denies.

“The sheer scale of need is overwhelming,” Elder said. “Mothers, newborns, premature babies, all are hanging on by the thinnest of threads.”

Web Desk