Besieged No water, no power and little hope in Gaza hospital

Inside a darkened operating theatre in Gaza's largest hospital complex, staff swaddled dozens of tiny premature babies seven or eight to a bed, in a desperate effort to keep the infants warm - and alive. With no oxygen supplies or power for incubators, nurses attempted to provide what little care they could for 39 babies who had been transferred from the neonatal unit following a strike on Dar al-Shifa's intensive care unit.

- Ruth Michaelson

"The neonatal unit is not connected to the main surgical units; it was dangerous to go from the main building to get the babies," said Dr Marwan Abu Sada, the head of surgery at al-Shifa, which has been operating under fire. "We called the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the Israelis to ensure the passage of the babies from the neonatal ICU to the surgical area." Thirty-six infants survived the transfer, but their conditions worsened over the weekend. "We lost one baby today, yesterday we lost two and I am afraid that all of the babies will lose their lives," said Abu Sada.

Nowhere else in Gaza could care for the infants, he said, making evacuation impossible. "We no longer have oxygen, or even fuel to run a generator."

Hospitals across Gaza City are in a struggle for survival, with only one facility able to receive hundreds of wounded people arriving daily. Staff in al-Shifa were working this week under bombardment and without power, clean water or food.

"Shifa is besieged: No one can get out or enter," said Abu Sada. "It is dangerous for us, even the medical staff, to look out the window. We are so afraid of the shooting."

Amid fears of sniper fire, staff have moved all 600 remaining patients from the windows and into corridors inside the complex, which suffered six strikes over two days, Abu Sada said, including one on an extension to the intensive care unit last Sunday.