Israel has denied reports that its troops had hit Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza after WHO said it lost all communication with officials at the Strip's biggest hospital. The WHO said it assumes its contacts have joined the stream of thousands of civilians who have fled to the Strip’s south.
This comes as the Palestinian health ministry claimed a baby died in an incubator at Al-Shifa after the facility lost power and another died in an Israeli shell in intensive care. "The situation is worse than anyone can imagine. We are besieged inside the Al Shifa Medical Complex, and the occupation has targeted most of the buildings inside," said Qidra, who represents the health ministry in Hamas-controlled Gaza.
The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) accuses the Hamas militants of placing command centres under Shifa Hospital. It has also urged the hospital’s staff and patients, along with all Gaza City residents, to flee south.
Expressing concern for patients and health workers, the WHO has called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. "It is the only way to save lives and reduce the horrific levels of suffering. Hospitals, patients, health staff, and persons sheltering in health facilities are protected under the Geneva Conventions & International Humanitarian Law," WHO said in a series of tweets.
It also called for the "sustained, orderly, unimpeded and safe medical evacuations of critically injured and sick patients into Egypt through the Rafah Border Crossing."
The Palestinian Health Ministry, based in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, said separately that 39 babies were at risk at the hospital. "39 premature babies in Al-Shifa Medical Complex are threatened with death at any moment, and one of them died this morning. Failure to bring fuel into the hospitals will be a death sentence for the rest. The incubators will only be able to work until this evening, after which the fuel will run out," it added.
Meanwhile, the IDF denied Palestinian claims that the hospital was under siege or that those inside were trapped. It added that it was asked by the staff at Shifa Hospital to help enable the transfer of babies in the pediatric department to a safer hospital, and would do so on Sunday.
IDF Spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said there was a lot of misinformation from Gaza regarding Shifa Hospital. "I want to clarify the facts. There is no siege, I repeat no siege, on Shifa Hospital. The east side of the hospital is open for the safe passage of Gazans who wish to leave the hospital," Hagari said.
He added that the army would continue to allow patients and staff at Gaza’s hospitals, and all noncombatants in northern Gaza, to evacuate to the south. "We’re speaking directly and regularly with the hospital staff," he said. "The staff of Shifa Hospital has requested that tomorrow we will help the babies in the pediatric department to get to a safer hospital. We will provide the assistance needed."