A total of five premature babies and seven critical patients have died in Gaza’s Al-Shifa hospital, a Hamas official said Sunday, as the facility suffers fuel shortages amid intense fighting between Israeli troops and Hamas militants.
“We fear the toll will rise further by morning,” said Youssef Abu Rish, deputy health minister in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip.
Major hospitals in north Gaza remained cut off by Israel’s onslaught against Hamas on Sunday.
Al-Shifa and other hospitals in north Gaza, the focus of Israel’s month-old war to wipe out the militants and free hostages, were barely able to care for patients due to the lack of fuel and medicine, medical staff said.
A plastic surgeon in the hospital said bombing of the building housing incubators had forced them to line up premature babies on ordinary beds, using the little power available to turn the air conditioning to warm.
