Israel has repeatedly denied permission to transfer incubators from an evacuated hospital in northern Gaza, worsening conditions in overcrowded hospitals further south where newborn babies are now sharing oxygen masks, UNICEF says.
James Elder, a UNICEF spokesperson, described scenes of extreme overcrowding and exhaustion inside Nasser Hospital in southern Gaza, where mothers and babies line corridor floors.
“In one of the pediatric rooms, there were three babies and three mums on a single bed, one source of oxygen, and the mothers would rotate the oxygen 20 minutes to each child,” he told Reuters news agency. “This is the level of desperation mums have now got to.”
Elder said vital medical equipment remains trapped in hospitals that have been shut in the north.
“We’ve been trying to recover incubators from a hospital that was evacuated in the north, and we’ve had four missions denied simply to get those incubators,” he said, referring to supplies stuck at the damaged by Israel at Al-Rantisi Children’s Hospital in Gaza City.
James Elder, a UNICEF spokesperson, described scenes of extreme overcrowding and exhaustion inside Nasser Hospital in southern Gaza, where mothers and babies line corridor floors.
“In one of the pediatric rooms, there were three babies and three mums on a single bed, one source of oxygen, and the mothers would rotate the oxygen 20 minutes to each child,” he told Reuters news agency. “This is the level of desperation mums have now got to.”
Elder said vital medical equipment remains trapped in hospitals that have been shut in the north.
“We’ve been trying to recover incubators from a hospital that was evacuated in the north, and we’ve had four missions denied simply to get those incubators,” he said, referring to supplies stuck at the damaged by Israel at Al-Rantisi Children’s Hospital in Gaza City.
