Thousands of people have fled alShifa hospital in Gaza City, but health officials said the remaining patients were dying as a result of energy shortages amid intense fighting between Israeli troops and Hamas militants.
At least 32 patients, including three premature babies, had died over the past three days, Gaza's health ministry said. Life-saving equipment such as incubators cannot function without fuel to run generators.
"Yesterday I had 39 babies and today they have become 36," Dr Mohamed Tabasha, the head of the paediatric department at the hospital, said in a phone interview yesterday with Reuters. "I cannot say how long they can last. I can lose another two babies today, or in an hour." Israel has imposed what it calls a "complete siege" on Gaza for more than a month, allowing in only a trickle of supplies. The Israeli military said it was providing safe corridors for people to escape intense fighting in the north and move south, but Palestinian officials inside al-Shifa hospital said the com pound was surrounded by constant heavy gunfire. Fighting has been concentrated in a tightening circle around the hospital's gates since Israeli ground forces entered Gaza, after Hamas militants killed at least 1,200 people and abducted 240 hostages in Israel in a surprise attack on 7 October.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has repeatedly said Hamas operates from bunkers underneath the hospital. This has been denied by Hamas and hospital staff.
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