NNorthern Gaza is facing a catastrophic breakdown in newborn care after Israel’s latest evacuation order, according to doctors and aid groups. The order affects an estimated 20 to 25,000 people in Al-Remal and Sabra areas, including the Patient’s Friends Benevolent Society hospital. It has the only neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) in northern Gaza that receives premature babies.
The withdrawal order appeared on the X ID account of Achivay Adraee on Thursday evening. The post, written in Arabic, reads: “This is a warning before the attack! Terrorist organizations are also firing rockets in this area. This particular area has been warned several times in the past. For safety, rush to the shelters in Gaza City Center.”
“It is not a game when they throw leaflets or when they announce that there are orders to leave,” Mahmoud Shalabi, Deputy Director of Programs at Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP) told TIME from Gaza City. Shalabi and his family have been in exile for more than seventy days.
“[The evacuation order]it is like the spread of a fire in the grass. Everything starts to spread quickly on social media,” said Shalabi. MAP, an independent British aid group, has provided critical staff and resources to PFBS since August 2024. Its NICU became operational in October, with incubators rescued from other hospitals – including the Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahia in the north. The center, which the World Health Organization official says still has 96 patients, remains under siege by Israeli soldiers working in the area, and CNN reported that a hospital official said four doctors were among the many people who died in the area on Friday. Shalabi says some of the half dozen incubators now at PFBS came—including children—from Kamal Adwan.
Read more: How Leaked Police Interviews With Benjamin Netanyahu Became The ‘Bibi Files’
Gaza City’s other hospital with a NICU, Al-Sahaba hospital, operates under limited capacity, and is only able to provide basic care for infants—those without complex or severe medical needs. PFBS also provides gynecology, delivery and general surgery services. Many patients are unable to move in their condition. This fall, when the center began offering life-saving treatment for premature babies in a region where the health care system has been slowly dismantled, patient visits increased, rising from 7,320 in July to 42,999 in October.
All health professionals in Gaza, including five doctors and ten nurses working in the NICU, are at risk. As of the summer of 2024, nearly 500 health workers have been killed in Gaza since the conflict began. On Thursday, Dr. Saeed Jouda, the last orthopedic doctor in northern Gaza, was killed by an Israeli plane next to Kamal Adwan.
“Gaza is very small. There are not many options left for the health authorities to decide where we want to go [services],” said Shalabi. “A lot of space has been taken out and it has been reduced to strikers. So there is nowhere for people to go.”
The sound of a drone was heard which Shalabi described as “armed to the teeth” when speaking to TIME. “It’s been a constant in our lives, you know, drone sounds…
Source link
