A woman kidnapped by Hamas commandos who attacked Israel on October 7 has given birth in Gaza, the wife of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a letter released Wednesday by the government’s Cabinet.

“One of the women kidnapped by Hamas was pregnant. She gave birth to her baby in captivity,” Sarah Netanyahu wrote in the letter to US first lady Jill Biden.

The letter states that among the hostages brought by Hamas to the Gaza Strip are 32 children, including a 10-month-old baby.

Israeli authorities never reveal the identities of the hostages, but according to the Hostage Families Forum they are Kfir Bibas, who was 9 months old when he was abducted from Kibbutz Nir Oz along with his brother Ariel, 4 years old, and his parents. . and Shiri.

Shout “Hands up!” Israelis take over Al Shifa Hospital

That same Wednesday, it became known about the operation in which dozens of Israeli soldiers, some wearing hoods and shooting into the air, ordered the Gazans who had sheltered in the Al Shifa hospital to surrender. The battle around Gaza’s largest hospital has reached the corridors, according to an AFP contributing journalist.

In announcing the operation, the Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu claimed that there will no longer be a refuge in the Gaza Strip for militants from the Islamist group Hamas.

Through loudspeakers and in Arabic, the Israeli soldiers order the patients: “all men aged 16 and over, raise your hands and leave the buildings towards the courtyard to surrender.”

The Israeli army reported this Wednesday that its “precise and selective operation against Hamas at Al Shifa Hospital is still ongoing,” despite the condemnation of Palestinian authorities, who fear for the lives of thousands of people there. Photo: EFE

That said, hundreds of young people are leaving the various services of the immense complex, located in Gaza City, in the north of the Gaza Strip, where the fighting between Israeli tanks and fighters of the Islamist movement Hamas, is in power in this Palestinian territory .

“We hold the occupation responsible for the lives of our patients, medical staff and evacuees,” said Health Hospitals General Manager Mohamed Zaqout.

Zaqout indicated that the soldiers also interrogated several hospital doctors in side rooms for “hours” and opened fire on those who left. the hospital complex, the largest in the Strip, housing about 2,000 displaced people and 650 patients, including 22 in intensive care and 36 premature babies.

Palestinian media suggest at least 200 people will be detained, including medical staff and evacuees.

“The smell of death is everywhere, from the emergency room to the last building of the hospital,” said the hospital director, who also noted that the wounds of many patients are rotting due to the lack of antibiotics and the suspension of hospital services.

War crime

The press service of the government of the Gaza Strip, which has been de facto controlled by Hamas since 2007, assures that the Israeli army has invaded Al Shifa with tanks, explosives, drones and heavily armed soldiers, “shooting inside,” which is a “war crime ” forms. ”

The head of the WHO in the Palestinian Territories, Rik Peeperkorn, admitted that despite the difficulties, they are considering a possible evacuation of all patients and medical staff from Al Shifa Hospital.

A woman cries for the victims killed in the Israeli bombings. More than 11,000 people have been killed in the brutal Israeli bombing of the Gaza Strip, according to the Hamas-led Health Ministry. Photo: AFP

“We know indirectly that 34 premature babies are still alive, and that today 82 bodies are buried in a mass grave, while another 80 remain unburied.” Peeperkorn explained.

He also highlighted that the 45 patients requiring dialysis at the facility have access to it for only two hours a day, in a situation of dire shortage of water, fuel and oxygen for patients requiring ventilators.

In the According to the WHO representative, it is estimated that there are more than 600 patients and 3,000 internally displaced refugees in the hospital. who also warned that infections and diseases caused by the lack of basic services are increasing across Gaza after a 40-day siege.

Al Shifa hospital, the main one in the Gaza Strip and located in Gaza City, ran out of electricity, drinking water and food several days ago and houses about 3,000 people, including displaced persons, medical staff and patients, including more than 30 people. premature babies whose lives are in danger.

At least 72,000 acute respiratory infections, 44,000 cases of diarrhea, 8,400 cases of chickenpox as well as other diseases such as hepatitis A have been detected, the expert lamented. (JO)