A total of thirty-one premature babies were evacuated to Egypt from the devastated Gaza Strip, where health care structures are suffering from a lack of supplies and bombings, which, according to the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas, hit the Indonesian hospital, which was at war, this Monday. Israel.

The World Health Organization (WHO) reported that 31 babies have been evacuated from Al Shifa Hospitalthe largest in Gaza, arrived in Egypt this Monday, one less than initially announced by the Egyptian state media Al Qahera News.

The WHO indicated that “eleven of them are in critical condition” and that all are suffering from “serious infections”.

In Gaza City, Hamas Health Ministry spokesman Ashraf al Qidreh said at least “12 patients and family members” were killed in a bombing of the Indonesian hospital “surrounded” by Israeli forces.

“There are approximately 700 patients and healthcare workers” at the medical center, located on the edge of the Jabaliya refugee camp, the spokesman said. He fears “that the same thing will happen as in Al Shifa,” where Israel issued evacuation orders.

He The Israeli army indicated on Sunday that it will take the fighting to “new neighborhoods in the Gaza Strip”. where the air and ground offensive is already underway has left approximately 13,300 deadincluding thousands of minors, according to a new report from the Islamist movement that rules this Palestinian territory.

The war began on October 7 after the Hamas attack in Israel, in which Islamist militants killed nearly 1,200 people and kidnapped another 240.

“We are witnessing a massacre of civilians that has no parallel or precedent in any conflict since I became Secretary General,” said United Nations head Antonio Guterres.

Catastrophic hospital situation

The Israeli army accuses the Islamist movement of using hospitals for military purposes and civilians as “human shields”, something Hamas denies.

Israeli forces last week launched an operation against Al Shifa Hospital, which the WHO described as a “death zone.”

The Israeli military on Sunday released videos, the authenticity of which could not be verified by AFP, of two hostages from Nepal and Thailand who were reportedly taken to Al Shifa Hospital.

Israel also accused Hamas of executing 19-year-old soldier Noa Marciano in Al Shifa, and presented images of an alleged 55-meter tunnel under the hospital.

A total of 31 premature babies were transferred from the Emirati hospital to the Rafah border crossing on November 20, in coordination with the World Health Organization and the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). Photo: EFE

The intensification of fighting in northern Gaza is forcing many civilians to flee south, walking through rubble and with the sound of explosions in the distance.

“It’s like the apocalypse, it’s difficult, very difficult,” said Renad al Helou, a crying woman. “There are people who have lost sons and daughters, there are injured people and pregnant women.”

Hostage release negotiations

Israel has vowed to “destroy” the Islamist movement and rejected calls for a ceasefire until the hostages are released, an issue under negotiation.

US President Joe Biden expressed optimism about an agreement on Monday.

“I think so,” he said when asked whether the conflicting parties, mediated by Qatar, are close to an agreement.

The kidnapped include Israelis and foreigners, including children, adolescents and the elderly.

The heads of diplomacy from the Palestinian Authority, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Indonesia met in Beijing with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, who said the international community must “act urgently” to address the “humanitarian disaster” in Gaza to stop.

According to the UN, more than two-thirds of the 2.4 million inhabitants of the narrow Palestinian territory have been displaced by the war.

A senior Israeli military official told reporters on Monday that if the army wants to take down Hamas, it must go “south” of Gaza.

“The situation is catastrophic in the hospitals in the south, where hundreds of people are injured every day as a result of the ongoing air and artillery bombardments,” Mohammed Zaqut, general director of hospitals in the Gaza Strip, told AFP.

The NGO Doctors Without Borders (MSF) stated on X (formerly Twitter) on Monday that its clinic in Gaza had been attacked and that “intense fighting is taking place around it.” The twenty-one people staying inside are “in extreme danger,” he warned.

The war has raised fears of a regional escalation of the conflict and there have been regular gun battles between Israeli soldiers and the Lebanese Hezbollah movement since October 7.

Hezbollah, backed by Iran, said on Monday it has launched a series of drone, rocket and artillery attacks on the Israeli army on the border with Lebanon. (JO)