Israel-Gaza live updates: 28 premature babies to be transported from Gaza to Egypt
[ad_1]
Dozens of premature babies are expected to be transported from the war-torn Gaza Strip into neighboring Egypt on Monday to receive emergency medical treatment.
The babies arrived on Gaza’s side of the Egyptian-controlled Rafah border crossing on Monday afternoon. Egyptian television footage showed Egyptian doctors moving the babies from Palestinian ambulances into mobile incubators. The infants will then be taken via Egyptian ambulances to nearby hospitals in the North Sinai province of northeastern Egypt, which shares a border with Gaza.
The Palestinian Red Crescent Society confirmed that its ambulance teams had transferred 28 premature babies to Egyptian medics at the Rafah border crossing on Monday afternoon. The process was done in coordination with the World Health Organization and the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent Society.
At least 12 of the babies who are said to be in deteriorating condition will be airlifted to Egypt’s capital, Cairo, according to Egyptian media.
Earlier Monday, Egyptian TV footage showed medics with incubators at the Rafah border crossing as they prepared to receive the tiny patients. Egypt’s heath minister was also seen on site inspecting the preparations.
The babies were evacuated on Sunday from Gaza’s largest medical complex, Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, and brought to Emirati Hospital in Rafah, a city in southern Gaza close to the border with Egypt.
Like many hospitals in Gaza, Al-Shifa has been struggling to function with a lack of electricity as well as limited fuel and medical supplies amid Israel’s continued bombardment of the territory. In recent days, Israeli ground troops have been carrying out a raid at Al-Shifa Hospital, searching for evidence that Gaza’s militant rulers, Hamas, were using the complex as a command center. The WHO described Al-Shifa Hospital as a “death zone” and urged a full evacuation after leading an assessment mission there on Sunday.
-ABC News’ Ayat Al-Tawy, Guy Davies and Morgan Winsor
[ad_2]
