Dwindling fuel supplies for Gaza’s hospital generators put premature babies in incubators at risk
Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry has issued an update about the situation at Al-Shifa, saying there are at least 2,300 people still inside the hospital.
The update says there are between 600 and 650 inpatients in the hospital, as well as 200 to 500 health workers and around 1,500 displaced people who have sought shelter.
A UK-based expert in neonatal care has told the BBC that moderately pre-term babies, like those in the picture above from Al-Shifa, must be kept at the right temperature.
Dr Kevin Goss, consultant neonatologist at Princess Anne Hospital in Southampton, says most - although not all - should normally be in an incubator, and have other basic needs.
"Those babies wrapped up in those towels are relying on the ambient temperature."
"Those in the foreground are going potentially to run into trouble quickly if you don’t have a source of heat to keep them warm," he adds. The Israeli army said yesterday it would help evacuate the babies from Al-Shifa.
Al-Shifa's head of Surgery Dr Abu Saada told me earlier there was nowhere else in Gaza that could accommodate that number of premature infants.
Dr Goss says moving babies like those in the pictures safely would normally require highly specialised equipment including transport incubators.
