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☆ Diapers Instead of Bridal Gowns: Gaza Tailors Adapt to Wartime Needs
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-19 | by ( Feb. | At A.M. | ) www.usnews.com time to read: +3 min

"There are 1.5 million displaced people in Rafah city and there are no Pampers," said Yasser Abu Gharara, owner of the tailoring workshop now making diapers. "We are not only talking about diapers for babies, but also for the elderly and people with disabilities," he said. For displaced people living in tent camps, the dearth of diapers has been worsening the daily struggle to keep babies and toddlers clean and dry. Hany Subh, a displaced father, said he was looking for diapers in the market every day, but the prices were too high. The war has reduced much of the enclave to rubble and caused what the U.N. has called a humanitarian catastrophe.

Persons: Mohammed Salem, Yasser Abu Gharara, Abu Gharara, Inas Al, Masry, Estelle Shirbon, William Maclean Locations: Mohammed Salem RAFAH, Gaza, Rafah, Egypt, Israel

☆ Living Among the Dead: Gaza Families Seek Shelter in Cemetery
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-06 | by ( Feb. | At A.M. | ) www.usnews.com time to read: +3 min

"People were forced to come here to this safe place, which is the cemetery among the dead," said Amer, who is displaced from Al-Shati refugee camp in northern Gaza with 11 family members including children and grandchildren. Israel has threatened to storm the area with tanks when it finishes a battle in Khan Younis just north of it. The cemetery has neat rows of low cement graves that pre-date the war, with plants and flowers growing on them, inscriptions and peeling paint. "The dead are in comfort while we, the living, are in pain and going through very tough conditions. "I see the children, our children, playing among and above the graves," said Amer.

Persons: Mohammed Salem, Mahmoud Amer, Amer, Israel's, Khan Younis, Estelle Shirbon, Peter Graff Organizations: Al Locations: Mohammed Salem RAFAH, Gaza, Rafah, Israel, Egypt, Palestinian

☆ Israeli Hostage Families Gain Clout as Political Landscape Shifts
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-05 | by ( Feb. | At A.M. | ) www.usnews.com time to read: +6 min

Some respondents did not mention names but wrote variants of "hostage families", reflecting the impact of the Forum itself and its "Bring them home now" campaign. Political scientist Tamar Hermann of the IDI said solidarity with the hostage families was blending with broader anti-government sentiment, partly rooted in a huge pre-war protest movement against Netanyahu's plan to overhaul the judiciary. New or existing left-wing parties could be a natural fit for any hostage relatives who did decide to go into politics. Conversely, the hostage families are seen as opponents by some on the right, and especially on the ultra-nationalist far right, which has sway over Netanyahu because it is part of his fragile coalition. Some of Netanyahu's hard-right supporters in politics and media portray the hostage families as leftists abusing public sympathy to further their anti-government agenda, said political scientist Gideon Rahat of the Hebrew University.

Persons: Emily Rose, Estelle Shirbon, pollsters, Benjamin Netanyahu's, Nimrod Nir, Gil Dickmann, Carmel Gat, Jonathan Shamriz, Alon, Israel, Dror, Yonat, Netanyahu, irked Netanyahu, Sunday Israel, Tamar Hermann of, IDI, Tomer Reznik, implacably, Gideon Rahat, Eliyahu Libman, Elyakim, Libman, Mark Heinrich Organizations: Reuters, Truman Research Institute, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Families Forum, Israel, Hamas, Sunday, Truman Institute, Israel Democracy Institute, IDI, Hebrew University, West Bank Locations: Estelle Shirbon JERUSALEM, LONDON, Gaza, Israel, Qatar, Egypt, United States, Kiryat Arba

☆ Gaza Ambulances Become Mobile Clinics as Fighting Blocks Way to Hospitals
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-31 | by ( Jan. | At A.M. | ) www.usnews.com time to read: +3 min

The hospital, the largest still functioning in southern Gaza, is in an area of the city where intense fighting is taking place between Israeli forces and Hamas militants, making it too dangerous for patients or even ambulances to pass. "We now function as an ambulance field point in central Khan Younis," said paramedic Nassim Hassan, who heads the emergency unit at Nasser Hospital. With no immediate prospect of getting new supplies from any hospital storeroom, Hassan was concerned about running out of essentials. "This medical point was created after the siege of hospitals, including Nasser Hospital and Al-Amal Hospital, and the hard access to them under the current events," said Abu al-Kass. Hassan and his colleagues from ambulance crews acting as mobile clinics have carried patients into the tent, and dead bodies out.

Persons: Fadi Shana, Ibraheem Abu Mustafa KHAN YOUNIS, Khan Younis, Nassim Hassan, Hassan, Ibrahim Abu al, Kass, Abu, Estelle Shirbon, Alexandra Hudson Organizations: Nasser Hospital, Al, Amal Hospital Locations: Gaza, Khan, Israel, Rafah, Egypt

☆ Gaza families flee again to shrinking, overcrowded pocket of land
▼ + stars: | 2023-12-05 | by ( Bassam Masoud | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

"We are getting ready to leave Khan Younis, heading to Rafah. But in Rafah, displaced people said their living conditions were horrible. Palestinians fleeing north Gaza walk towards the south, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, in the central Gaza Strip, November 9, 2023. Hamas militants stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7, killing 1,200 people and kidnapping 240 hostages, according to Israel's tally. More than 15,800 Palestinians have been killed by Israel's military response in Gaza, according to figures from Gaza health officials deemed reliable by the United Nations.

Persons: Khan, KHAN YOUNIS, Khan Younis, Nasser, Abu Omar, Enas Mosleh, Mohammed Salem, Hassan al, Fadi Shana, Saleh, Maggie Fick, Estelle Shirbon, Timothy Organizations: Hamas, REUTERS, United Nations, Nasser, Timothy Heritage, Thomson Locations: Khan Younis, Rafah, Gaza, Israel, Egypt, Palestinian, Beit Hanoun, Saleh Salem, Beirut

KHAN YOUNIS, Nov 30 (Reuters) - Balanced on a steep slab of fissured concrete with rods of twisted metal poking out and the remnants of a dome slanted at a 45-degree angle behind him, a young muezzin in a baseball cap called Muslims to prayer from atop a bombarded mosque in Gaza. The mosque is one of many in Gaza that have been hit by Israeli strikes in its war against Hamas. Israel accuses the Islamist group of using mosques to conceal tunnel shafts, missile and rocket launch sites and other infrastructure. [1/5]A mosque destroyed in Israeli strikes during the conflict lies in ruin, amid a temporary truce between the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas and Israel, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip November 29, 2023. Next to the mosque was an open expanse of sandy terrain where a tent camp for displaced people had sprung up.

Persons: KHAN YOUNIS, Khan Younis, Mohammed Salem, Ansari, Ameen Mohammed, Antonio Guterres, Estelle Shirbon, Alison Williams Organizations: Hamas, Reuters, REUTERS, Al, Thomson Locations: Gaza, Touba, Khan, Israel, Al, Palestinian

☆ Back to a War Zone: Stranded Palestinians Head Home to Gaza During Truce
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-30 | by ( Nov. | At A.M. | ) www.usnews.com time to read: +3 min

By Nidal al-Mughrabi and Ibraheem Abu MustafaRAFAH, Gaza (Reuters) - About 1,000 Palestinians who were stranded outside the Gaza Strip when war broke out between Israel and Hamas have returned home during the seven-day truce, braving the prospect of renewed bombardment, a Palestinian border official said on Thursday. The war began three days later, when Hamas militants attacked southern Israel. Abu Nader flew to Egypt on Oct. 24 but could not return to Gaza as the Rafah crossing was closed. All Palestine is my home, not just Gaza or the house in al-Nasser, the whole nation is my home," he said. The truce was initially agreed for four days but has repeatedly been renewed, for 24 to 48 hours at a time.

Persons: Nidal, Abu, Abu Nader, Nasser, MOONSCAPE, Intisar Barakat, Fadi Shana, Estelle Shirbon, Gareth Jones Organizations: Hamas, Reuters, Hospitals, United Nations Locations: Abu Mustafa RAFAH, Gaza, Israel, Palestinian, Rafah, Egypt, Turkey, Nasser, Gaza City, Palestine, al, Cairo

[1/2] A worker pushes a luggage cart with belongings of Palestinians who are trying to get back into Gaza, at the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip, during a temporary truce between Hamas and Israel, in Rafah, Egypt, November 30, 2023. Acquire Licensing RightsRAFAH, Gaza, Nov 30 (Reuters) - About 1,000 Palestinians who were stranded outside the Gaza Strip when war broke out between Israel and Hamas have returned home during the seven-day truce, braving the prospect of renewed bombardment, a Palestinian border official said on Thursday. The war began three days later, when Hamas militants attacked southern Israel. Abu Nader flew to Egypt on Oct. 24 but could not return to Gaza as the Rafah crossing was closed. All Palestine is my home, not just Gaza or the house in al-Nasser, the whole nation is my home," he said.

Persons: Abu Nader, Nasser, MOONSCAPE, Intisar Barakat, Fadi Shana, Estelle Shirbon, Gareth Jones Organizations: Hamas, Reuters, Hospitals, United Nations, Thomson Locations: Gaza, Rafah, Egypt, Israel, RAFAH, Palestinian, Turkey, Nasser, Gaza City, Palestine, al, Cairo

We were shocked to see our homes, our streets, our lands, our yards and everything demolished," said Gihad Nabil, who was recently married and had been living in Abu Ta'imah with his wife. We don't need this truce, we need a complete ceasefire," he said, likening what he was seeing to an earthquake zone. Abdelrahman Abu Ta'imah, a member of the clan that gave the area its name, searched through his bombed-out apartment, pulling clothes and a pink mattress from the debris. Israel says it targets Hamas infrastructure, and accuses Hamas of putting civilians in harm's way by using them as human shields. But Abu Ta'imah said a short truce was not enough and he longed for a permanent solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Persons: Mohammed Salem, KHAN YOUNIS, Abu Ta'imah, Gaza's Khan Younis, Gihad Nabil, Nabil, Israel, Antonio Guterres, Khan Younis, we've, Estelle Shirbon, Angus MacSwan Organizations: Hamas, REUTERS, Thomson Locations: Israel, Palestinian, Khan, Gaza, Abu, Gaza's, Egypt

☆ Donkey Cart Ride Shows Scale of Destruction in Gaza's Khan Younis
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-29 | by ( Nov. | At A.M. | ) www.usnews.com time to read: +3 min

Unfortunately it takes us three to four hours to reach Khan Younis," said Najar, speaking on the back of the cart. The slower pace gives a clear view of a city scarred by war, with the white donkey trotting past one scene of destruction after another. The destruction in Khan Younis in the south is not as extreme as in Gaza City and other parts of northern Gaza that have borne the brunt of Israel's military campaign. Vowing to destroy Hamas, Israel launched an assault on Gaza that has killed more than 15,000 people, four in ten of them children, according to health officials there. "They didn't leave a tree or a stone," he said, appealing to God to bring the war to an end.

Persons: Bassam Masoud, Fadi Shana KHAN YOUNIS, Khan Younis, Mohammed al Najar, Estelle Shirbon, Janet Lawrence Organizations: Reuters, World Health Organization Locations: Gaza, Khan, Khuza'a, Gaza City, rampaged, Israel

☆ Gaza truce gives displaced children rare chance to sing and play
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-29 | by ( Arafat Barbakh | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/2] Displaced Palestinians participate in activity organized by volunteers to entertain and support mental health of children affected by the conflict, during a temporary truce between Hamas and Israel, in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, November 28, 2023. The war has turned Gaza's schools into overcrowded camps for displaced people, where children have been enduring the fear of bombardment, displacement from their homes and shortages of food, water and electricity. "We took advantage of this truce to organise these events to entertain the children and ease away their stress," he said. Vowing to destroy Hamas, Israel launched an assault on Gaza that has killed more than 15,000 people, four in ten of them children, according to health officials there. "I am so happy with the games, and I am so happy with this truce," said Gilnar Ahmed, another displaced girl at the Abdullah Siam school.

Persons: Khan Younis, Arafat, KHAN YOUNIS, clapped, Lina Mohareb, Abdullah, they've, Samer Nofal, Gilnar Ahmed, Abdullah Siam, Estelle Shirbon, Alexandra Hudson Organizations: REUTERS, Hamas, Watan Youth Centre, Alexandra Hudson Our, Thomson Locations: Israel, Gaza, Palestinian, Abdullah Siam, rampaged

Even during the ceasefire, they didn't find a solution to the water problem," said Rami al-Rizek, displaced with his family from their home in Gaza City. "The truce is the time to lift the rubble and search for all the missing people and bury them. What use is the truce if the bodies remain under the rubble?" Israel responded with aerial bombardment and a ground assault on Gaza, killing more than 15,000 people, around 40% of them children, according to Gazan health officials. Another Khan Younis resident, Ahmed al-Najjar, said of the truce: "Four days are not enough, and forty days are not enough, and four years will not be enough to get over the pain."

Persons: Khan Younis, Saleh Salem, KHAN YOUNIS, Rami al, Muath Hamdan, Maryam Abu Rjaileh, Abu Rjaileh, Yasser Abu Shamaleh, Abu Shamaleh, Israel, Ahmed al, Bassam Masoud, Fadi Shana, Mohammed Salem, Estelle Shirbon, Janet Lawrence Organizations: Hamas, REUTERS, Thomson Locations: Israel, Gaza, Khan, Gaza City, Egypt, rampaged

☆ Delayed by War, Gaza's Olive Harvest Is Too Little, Too Late, Say Farmers
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-28 | by ( Nov. | At A.M. | ) www.usnews.com time to read: +2 min

In a normal year the harvest would have started weeks earlier, but until the truce farmers were afraid of being mistaken for Hamas militants and targeted by Israeli forces if they ventured out into the olive groves. He said that normally they would harvest enough olives to fill 12 containers, but this year they would fill just one. There were other problems linked to the war, he said, such as a dearth of fuel to transport the olives to the nearest press. As soon as we secured access to fuel, we were able to open the olive press, even if it's working at minimum capacity." He said some farmers had found nothing, while others had harvested a fraction of what they would normally expect.

Persons: Bassam Masoud, Saleh Salem, There's, Fathy Abu Salah, Abu Salah, Khan Younis, Sacks, jerry, Mohamed Wafy, Wafy, Fadi Shana, Estelle Shirbon, Rosalba O'Brien Locations: Saleh, Saleh Salem GAZA, Farmers, Gaza, Israel, Olives

☆ Gazans call for truce to be extended, Israelis divided on the issue
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-27 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Palestinians spend time on a beach during a temporary truce between Hamas and Israel, in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip November 25, 2023. All of them wanted the truce to continue. WIDE RANGE OF VIEWS IN ISRAELOn the other side of the border, Israelis were focused on the fate of the hostages. Ido Segev, an Intel employee, said he was optimistic the truce would be extended as long as Hamas continued handing over hostages. "They (Hamas) need to be punished, but not all the other people in Gaza need to be punished," she said.

Persons: Fadi Shana, KHAN YOUNIS, Khan Younis, Najar, what’s, Arava Gerzon Raz, Ido Segev, Adam Sela, Anat Errel, Dedi Hayun, Nathan Frandino, Saleh Salem, Abu, Estelle Shirbon, Nick Macfie Organizations: REUTERS, Intel, Hamas, Thomson Locations: Israel, Deir al, Gaza, TEL AVIV, Egypt, Qatar, United States, Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Abu Mustafa

☆ Gazans Call for Truce to Be Extended, Israelis Divided on the Issue
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-27 | by ( Nov. | At A.M. | ) www.usnews.com time to read: +4 min

KHAN YOUNIS/TEL AVIV (Reuters) - Gazans desperate for an end to their suffering said on Monday they wanted the truce to be extended, while Israelis were divided between those who wanted an extension so all hostages could come home and others worried about giving in to Hamas demands. All of them wanted the truce to continue. WIDE RANGE OF VIEWS IN ISRAELOn the other side of the border, Israelis were focused on the fate of the hostages. Ido Segev, an Intel employee, said he was optimistic the truce would be extended as long as Hamas continued handing over hostages. "They (Hamas) need to be punished, but not all the other people in Gaza need to be punished," she said.

Persons: KHAN YOUNIS, Khan Younis, Najar, what’s, Arava Gerzon Raz, Ido Segev, Adam Sela, Anat Errel, Dedi Hayun, Nathan Frandino, Saleh Salem, Abu, Estelle Shirbon, Nick Macfie Organizations: Reuters, Intel, Hamas Locations: TEL AVIV, Egypt, Qatar, United States, Israel, Gaza, Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Abu Mustafa

☆ Tea in the moonlight as truce brings respite but not normality for Gazans
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-26 | by ( Mohammed Salem | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/3] Israeli soldiers sit in a military vehicle near the Israel-Gaza border on its Israeli side during a temporary truce between Hamas and Israel, in southern Israel, November 26, 2023. The peaceful scene, on the second night of a temporary truce between Israel and Hamas, was a moment of respite and reflection for Kaninch, who like other Gazans has endured fear and hardship since the war began on Oct. 7. "These truce days have allowed people to have a bit of social communication and to check on their families and friends and their houses." The headlights of a passing car briefly lit up piles of rubble on the street and graffiti on the walls. The war began when Hamas militants broke out of Gaza on Oct. 7 and rampaged through southern Israel, killing 1,200 people, among them babies and children, and seizing 240 hostages.

Persons: Alexander Ermochenko, KHAN YOUNIS, Ibrahim Kaninch, Khan Younis, Kaninch, We’ve, we’re, what's, people's, Estelle Shirbon, Giles Elgood Organizations: REUTERS, Hamas, Thomson Locations: Israel, Gaza

Volunteers cook lentil soup to warm up displaced people drenched by rain. "Lentil soup used to be an ordinary dish that no one cared about, but for us now it's better than lamb meat. We are thankful that the lentil soup is now available to us, thanks to these volunteers," said displaced woman Mounira al-Masry. "Lentil soup is a traditional dish for Palestinians," he said. Because of this, volunteers started to think about serving lentil soup, the winter dish that can warm people."

Persons: Khan Younis, Younis Abd al, Bassam, Taghreed Jaber, Jaber, haven't, Mounira, Hussein Abu Ramadan, Estelle Shirbon, William Maclean Organizations: Volunteers, Nasser Hospital, REUTERS, Reuters, Thomson Locations: GAZA, Gaza, Israel, Gaza City, Rafah, Khan, Beit Hanoun

☆ Baby Anas, rescued from Gaza's Al Shifa Hospital, feels warmth of mother's embrace
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-21 | by ( Ibraheem Abu Mustafa | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

"I was losing hope to see my baby alive," said Warda Sbeta in an interview with Reuters TV on Tuesday. Anas was one of only three out of the 31 premature babies rescued from Al Shifa who stayed behind in Gaza. Of the other two, one was unidentified, according to doctors at the Rafah hospital. "They called us from Al Shifa to come and take the baby but it was hard for us to return. The parents rushed to Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, but were told they had to go to the maternity hospital in Rafah, where they were finally reunited with Anas.

Persons: Anas, Mother, couldn't, Gaza City's, hadn't, Warda, Sbeta, Khan Younis, Al Shifa, Gaza's Al Shifa, James Elder, Elder, Israel, Emma Farge, Estelle Shirbon, Nick Macfie Organizations: Al Shifa, Reuters, Health Organization, Hamas, REUTERS, Monday, UNICEF, Nasser Hospital, Thomson Locations: Gaza, Egypt, RAFAH, Al, Rafah, Gaza City, Gaza's Al, Israel, Palestinian, Khan, Geneva

"They are innocent children, premature babies," an exhausted al-Saik said in a video interview provided by the Egyptian government. The babies, from a total of 31 moved on Sunday from the besieged Al Shifa Hospital in Gaza City to a maternity hospital in Rafah, wore only nappies and tiny green hats. When doctors at Al Shifa raised the alarm about them, there were 39 babies. Like hundreds of thousands of others, al-Saik moved to the south of the Gaza Strip with her three other children, while the baby girl stayed at Al Shifa. FAMILY TORN APARTWith shortages of electricity, water, medicines and other basics, conditions at Al Shifa deteriorated and the baby lost weight and got sick.

Persons: Gaza's, Lobna, Saik, Rick Brennan, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Al Shifa, Jeremy Hopkins, Mohammad Salama, Helal, Salama, Nayera Abdallah, Clauda Tanios, Mai Shams El, Yusri Mohamed, Aidan Lewis, Estelle Shirbon, Janet Lawrence Organizations: Al Shifa, WHO, World Health Organization, Reuters, Al Shifa Hospital, Hamas, UNICEF, Emairati Maternity, Thomson Locations: Egypt, Al, CAIRO, GAZA, Gaza, Rafah, Gaza City, Cairo, Israel, Palestinian, Ismailia, London

REUTERS/Doaa... Acquire Licensing Rights Read moreGAZA, Nov 15 (Reuters) - The boy keeps asking for his parents, and he wants to get up and walk, but his parents are dead and his legs have been amputated. He had severed lower limbs," the doctor said at the hospital, speaking on Saturday as preparations were underway for him to operate on Ahmed. "We are going to carry out lower limb amputation due to severe lower limb lacerations, to the right leg. The United Nations and international aid groups speak of a humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza. "The child not only lost his parents, he lost his legs too," said Abu Amsha.

Persons: Ahmad Shabat, Ahmed Shabat, Ibrahim Abu Amsha, Abu Amsha, Nahum Barnea, Ahmed Zayyan, Ahmed, Dr Zayyan, Israel, Estelle Shirbon, Alexandra Hudson Organizations: REUTERS, United Nations, Alexandra Hudson Our, Thomson Locations: Shuhada, Aqsa, Gaza, GAZA, Beit Hanoun, Gaza City, Deir al, Israel

☆ Displaced as a Girl and Again in Old Age, Palestinian Grandmother Relives the Nakba
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-14 | by ( Nov. | At A.M. | ) www.usnews.com time to read: +3 min

"I was five years old and I remember being displaced. I swear it's the same as what's happening today," said Awad, sitting outside her tent on a patch of sand. Every few years they bring a new Nakba on us," said Awad, breaking down in tears. Let them throw us in the sea, then they can rest without Gaza and the poor Palestinian people," she said. Most people in Gaza are registered as refugees, after they or their ancestors fled their homes in 1948.

Persons: Nidal, Mughrabi KHAN YOUNIS, Abla Awad, Israel, Khan Younis, Awad, Benjamin Netanyahu's, Bezalel Smotrich, Estelle Shirbon, Christina Fincher Organizations: Hamas, United, Israeli Locations: Gaza, Israel, Khan, United Nations, Palestinian

Persons: Abla Awad, war's Nakba, Khan Younis, KHAN YOUNIS, Israel, Awad, Benjamin Netanyahu's, Bezalel Smotrich, Estelle Shirbon, Christina Fincher Organizations: Hamas, United, Israeli, Thomson Locations: Gaza, Israel, Khan, United Nations, Palestinian

Maxar Technologies/Handout via REUTERS/File photo Acquire Licensing RightsGAZA, Nov 14 (Reuters) - People trapped inside Gaza's Al Shifa Hospital plan to start burying bodies within the hospital compound on Tuesday without Israeli approval because the situation has become untenable, two sources at the hospital said. "We are planning to bury them today in a mass grave inside the Al Shifa medical complex. Qidra put the number of bodies that had accumulated at Al Shifa at about 100. "Unfortunately there is no approval from the Israelis to even bury the bodies within the hospital area," he said. Israel says Al Shifa Hospital sits atop tunnels housing a headquarters for Hamas fighters, who are to blame for its plight for using patients as human shields.

Persons: Gaza's, Ahmed Al Mokhallalati, Ashraf Al, Qidra, Al Shifa, Mokhallalati, Estelle Shirbon, Janet Lawrence Organizations: Hamas, Maxar Technologies, REUTERS, Al, ICRC, International, Thomson Locations: Israel, Palestinian, Gaza, Gaza's Al Shifa

The Gaza Strip has been under a total Israeli blockade since Hamas launched an attack on Israel on Oct. 7. An Israeli ground incursion since then has brought fighting to streets around the hospital in the centre of Gaza City in the north of the strip. "Luckily they are still 36, we didn’t lose any of them overnight," Dr Ahmed El Mokhatallali, a surgeon, told Reuters by telephone from Al Shifa. 'NO CLEAR MECHANISM'The military did not say what steps it would take to make an evacuation possible, amid intense air strikes and ongoing fighting in the vicinity of Al Shifa hospital. What we care most is about the wellbeing and the lives of those babies," Gaza health ministry spokesperson Ashraf Al-Qidra said, speaking by telephone from the hospital.

Persons: Gaza's Al Shifa, Dr Ahmed El Mokhatallali, Al Shifa, Shani Sasson, Arthur Edelman, Ashraf Al, Qidra, Israel, Al Shifa's Mokhatallali, Nidal al, Dan Williams, Abir Al, Estelle Shirbon, Andrew Heavens, Edmund Blair Organizations: Hamas, REUTERS, Israel, Al, Gaza's, Reuters, Israeli Defence Ministry, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, West Bank, Medical, Israel's Coordination, Administration, Al Shifa Hospital, Thomson Locations: Gaza's Al, Israel, Palestinian, Gaza City, Gaza, GAZA, JERUSALEM, Al Shifa, Israeli, Al, Egypt, Jerusalem, Abir Al Ahmar, Dubai

The newborns are under the care of exhausted medics at Gaza's Al Shifa hospital, which is besieged by Israeli tanks battling Hamas fighters, and lacks electricity, water, food, medicines and equipment. "Yesterday I had 39 babies and today they have become 36," said Dr. Mohamed Tabasha, head of the paediatric department at Al Shifa, in a telephone interview on Monday. The premature babies, who weigh less than 1.5 kg (3.3 pounds) each and in some cases only 700 or 800 grammes, should be in incubators where the temperature and humidity can be regulated according to their individual needs. "They are in a very bad situation where you slowly kill them unless someone interferes to adjust or to improve their situation," he said, also by telephone from Al Shifa. Israel says Al Shifa hospital sits atop tunnels housing a headquarters for Hamas fighters, who are to blame for its plight for using patients as human shields, which Hamas denies.

Persons: Al Shifa, Mohamed Tabasha, Tabasha, gastritis, Ahmed El Mokhallalati, Israel, Estelle Shirbon, Janet Lawrence Organizations: Shifa, Hamas, Thomson Locations: Israel, Palestinian, Gaza City, GAZA, Al, Gaza

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