The neonatal unit at Al-Aqsa Hospital in Gaza’s Deir al-Balah is under immense strain as dozens of premature babies were moved there from Gaza City, where Israeli operations have escalated. Videos showed multiple infants sharing incubators, while some mothers held their newborns on the floor due to lack of space.
Mothers described dire shortages. “There are more babies than nurses. Only one thermometer is shared among 27 patients. We wait our turn for every device,” said Um Mohammed Saad, displaced from Gaza’s Shijaiyeh neighborhood.
Hospital spokesman Khalil al-Dakran admitted the facility cannot cope. “Although we are receiving many premature babies, we cannot provide adequate healthcare because of shortages of medicines, equipment, and space,” he explained.
Palestinian media reported UNICEF’s urgent call for the evacuation of at least 25 premature or sick babies after Al-Helou Hospital in Gaza City was reportedly hit.
The conflict, which began on October 7, 2023, has devastated Gaza’s healthcare system. According to Gaza’s health ministry, more than 66,000 Palestinians have been killed, while Israel reported 1,139 people dead from Hamas’s attack.
UNICEF and the World Health Organization (WHO) both stressed that the situation for mothers and babies in Gaza has “never been worse.” At Nasser Hospital in southern Gaza, newborns share oxygen supplies, with each receiving only 20 minutes at a time, UNICEF said.
The WHO’s Dr Rik Peeperkorn noted that corridors are filled with patients lying on mattresses, many of them women who just gave birth. With only 14 of Gaza’s 36 hospitals partially functional, medical supplies are critically low.
Israel maintains that it allows aid into Gaza but accuses Hamas of diverting resources, which the group denies. Meanwhile, at Al-Aqsa Hospital, the scale of need continues to outpace the fragile health system. UNICEF warned that mothers and newborns are “hanging on by the thinnest of threads.”
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