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Babies evacuated from Gaza hospital UN agency dubs 'death zone'

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Adel Zaanoun, Agence France-Presse

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img alt="The scene at Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza city where relatives arrived to identify the remains of people killed in Israeli airstrikes, Gaza Strip, on October 18, 2023. EPA-EFE/MOHAMMED SABER EPA-EFE/HAITHAM IMAD" src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2023/overseas/11/19/111923_gaza_al-shifa-hospital_epa.jpg"/><figcaption>The scene at Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza city where relatives arrived to identify the remains of people killed in Israeli airstrikes, Gaza Strip, on October 18, 2023. <em>EPA-EFE/MOHAMMED SABER EPA-EFE/HAITHAM IMAD</em></figcaption></figure></div><p>More than 30 premature babies were evacuated Sunday from Gaza&#x27;s largest hospital, said a health official in the Hamas-run territory, as Israel&#x27;s army struck more targets in its war on the Palestinian militant group.</p><p>The World Health Organization (WHO) scrambled to evacuate the last remaining patients and staff from Al-Shifa hospital, describing it as a &quot;death zone&quot; after UN officials visited the facility raided earlier this week by Israeli troops.</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/overseas/11/19/23/who-says-gazas-al-shifa-hospital-a-death-zone-urges-full-evacuation">WHO says Gaza&#x27;s Al-Shifa hospital a &#x27;death zone&#x27;, urges full evacuation</a></li></ul><p>Mohammed Zaqut, director general of Gaza&#x27;s hospitals, told AFP that &quot;all 31 premature babies in Al-Shifa hospital... have been evacuated&quot; along with three doctors and two nurses.</p><p>&quot;Preparations are under way&quot; for them to enter Egypt via the Rafah crossing, Zaqut said.</p><p>Elsewhere in northern Gaza, a Hamas health official said more than 80 people were killed on Saturday in twin strikes on Jabalia refugee camp, the territory&#x27;s largest, including on a UN school sheltering displaced people.</p><p>Israel has vowed to destroy Gaza&#x27;s rulers Hamas over the October 7 attacks that it says killed 1,200 people and saw 240 hostages taken, in the worst-ever onslaught on the country.</p><p>In Gaza, the Hamas government says 12,300 have been killed in Israel&#x27;s relentless aerial bombardment and ground operations.</p><p>Most of the casualties on both sides are civilians.</p><p>Israel said Saturday its military was &quot;expanding its operational activities in additional neighborhoods of the Gaza Strip&quot; where the UN says some 1.6 million people have been internally displaced by more than six weeks of fighting.</p><p>The narrow Palestinian enclave, under a crippling blockade since Hamas took power in 2007, has been under an Israeli siege since the war erupted, leaving food, water, medicine and fuel in short supply.</p><p>The fighting has rendered more than half of Gaza&#x27;s 36 hospitals non-functioning by shortages, combat or damage, the UN has said.</p><p>On Sunday, the WHO described dire conditions at Gaza City&#x27;s Al-Shifa hospital, with a mass grave at the entrance and nearly 300 patients left inside with 25 health workers.</p><p>It said it was planning &quot;the immediate evacuation of the remaining patients, staff and their families&quot;.</p><p>But it warned that nearby facilities were already overstretched and urged an immediate ceasefire given the &quot;extreme suffering of the people of Gaza&quot;.</p><p>The Israeli army said three soldiers were killed Saturday in fighting in northern Gaza, raising the number of troop deaths there to 62 since the war began.</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/overseas/11/19/23/us-says-still-pushing-for-israel-hamas-deal-after-reported-breakthrough">US says still pushing for Israel-Hamas deal after reported breakthrough</a></li>	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/overseas/11/19/23/palestinian-president-abbas-urges-us-to-help-stop-genocide-in-gaza">Palestinian President Abbas urges US to help stop &#x27;genocide&#x27; in Gaza</a></li></ul><div><strong>- &#x27;Horrifying&#x27; -</strong></div><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/W2L38TZIRy4?enablejsapi=1" width="560"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more News on <a href="https://www.iwanttfc.com/#!/browse/Genres/News/tag_id_genres/id_news" target="_blank">iWantTFC</a></div><p>Israel this week showed AK-47 assault rifles and other military equipment it said had been found at Al-Shifa to support its claim -- rejected by Hamas -- that militants had been there.</p><p>On Saturday, hundreds fled the hospital on foot as loud explosions were heard around the complex.</p><p>Columns of sick and injured were seen leaving with displaced people, doctors and nurses.</p><p>At least 15 bodies, some in advanced stages of decomposition, were strewn along the route, an AFP journalist said.</p><p>Medical charity Doctors without Borders (MSF) said one person was killed when its convoy came under attack Saturday while evacuating staff and family members from near Al-Shifa.</p><p>The WHO said 29 patients at the hospital with serious spinal injuries cannot move without medical assistance.</p><p>Israel has told Palestinians to move south for their safety, but deadly strikes continued there too.</p><p>At least 26 people were killed in a strike that hit a residential building on Saturday, according to the director of the Nasser hospital in Khan Yunis.</p><p>The head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees UNRWA, Philippe Lazzarini, said he had seen &quot;horrifying images&quot; of Saturday&#x27;s strike on the UN school in Jabalia, which Egypt called a &quot;war crime&quot;.</p><p>The Israeli army said &quot;an incident in the Jabalia region&quot; was under review without elaborating.</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/spotlight/11/19/23/where-does-europes-far-right-stand-on-the-israel-hamas-war">Where does Europe&#x27;s far right stand on the Israel-Hamas war?</a></li>	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/overseas/11/18/23/hundreds-flee-as-israel-orders-gazas-main-hospital-evacuated">Hundreds flee as Israel orders Gaza&#x27;s main hospital evacuated</a></li></ul><div><br/><strong>- Fuel shipments -</strong></div><p>With just a trickle of aid allowed in from Egypt, Israel permitted a first consignment of fuel to enter Gaza late Friday under US pressure, allowing telecommunications to resume after a two-day blackout.</p><p>Some 120,000 litres (31,700 gallons) of fuel arrived on Saturday, according to the UN.</p><p>Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose government had vowed to keep aid out of Hamas&#x27;s hands, said the fuel would power basic necessities like water pumps and sewage systems to prevent disease outbreak.</p><p>&quot;The humanitarian assistance is also vital to ensure continued international support,&quot; he told a news conference.</p><p>A US official has said more fuel deliveries and a &quot;significant pause&quot; in fighting would come &quot;when hostages are released&quot;.</p><p>The White House denied a Washington Post report of a tentative agreement.</p><p>But Qatar&#x27;s Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani said on Sunday a deal to free hostages hinges on &quot;very minor&quot; practical issues, without elaborating.</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/overseas/11/18/23/not-asking-for-the-moon-un-official-pleads-for-gaza-ceasefire">&#x27;Not asking for the moon&#x27;: UN official pleads for Gaza ceasefire</a></li>	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/overseas/11/17/23/israel-allows-2-fuel-tankers-into-gaza-daily">Israel allows 2 fuel tankers into Gaza daily as aid halted</a></li></ul><div><strong>- &#x27;Not normal&#x27; -</strong></div><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/JBhMfrrA6xM?enablejsapi=1" width="560"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more News on <a href="https://www.iwanttfc.com/#!/browse/Genres/News/tag_id_genres/id_news" target="_blank">iWantTFC</a></div><p>Relatives of some of the hostages on Saturday marched to Netanyahu&#x27;s Jerusalem office, demanding action to free them.</p><p>&quot;It&#x27;s not normal to have children kidnapped for 43 days. We don&#x27;t know what the government is doing, we don&#x27;t have any information,&quot; said marcher Ari Levi.</p><p>The bodies of two female hostages were recovered in Gaza this week, the Israeli military said, while four abductees have so far been released by Hamas and a fifth rescued by troops.</p><p>Gaza&#x27;s fate after the conflict remains unclear, and US President Joe Biden argued that the coastal territory and the Israeli-occupied West Bank should come under a single &quot;revitalized&quot; administration.</p><p>&quot;As we strive for peace, Gaza and the West Bank should be reunited under a single governance structure, ultimately under a revitalized Palestinian Authority,&quot; he wrote in the Washington Post.</p><p>Netanyahu maintains that the Palestinian Authority &quot;in its current form is not capable of receiving responsibility for Gaza&quot;.</p><p>Biden also threatened sanctions against Israeli settlers who have ramped up attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank in recent weeks.</p><p>Since the Israel-Hamas war began, Israeli troops and settlers have killed more than 200 Palestinians in the West Bank, according to Ramallah-based health ministry.</p><p>The Palestinian Red Crescent reported Sunday two deaths in overnight army raids in Jenin and the Bethlehem area.</p><p>© Agence France-Presse</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/11/17/23/ph-spends-p80m-for-israel-lebanon-west-bank-repatriation">Philippines spends P80M for Israel-Lebanon-West Bank repatriation</a></li></ul><div><strong>RELATED VIDEO</strong></div><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/pnwSqCxZ9ds?enablejsapi=1" width="560"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more News on <a href="https://www.iwanttfc.com/#!/browse/Genres/News/tag_id_genres/id_news" target="_blank">iWantTFC</a></div>

More than 30 premature babies were evacuated Sunday from Gaza's largest hospital, said a health official in the Hamas-run territory.

Babies evacuated from Gaza hospital UN agency dubs 'death zone'

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Babies evacuated from Gaza hospital UN agency dubs 'death zone'

Adel Zaanoun,

Agence France-Presse

Published Nov 19, 2023 09:04 PM PHT

Read More:

Israel

Gaza Strip

Hamas

Al-Shifa

Gaza City

World Health Organization

Mohammed Zaqut

Rafah crossing

Palestine

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