28 Prematurized Babies Evacuated From Gaza Successfully Arrived In Egypt

One of the ambulances in the evacuation of babies from Gaza to Egypt was through Rafah. (Twitter/@PalestinineRCS)

JAKARTA - A total of 28 premature babies who were evacuated from Gaza, Palestine on Monday, Egypt arrived for better medical treatment after the convoy that brought him across through Rafah.

Medical staff at the Egyptian side of the Rafah border were seen carefully taking small babies from the ambulance and placing them in a moving incubator, which was then pushed across the parking lot to another ambulance.

The babies, out of a total of 31 babies transferred on Sunday from Al Shifa's Accompanied Hospital in Gaza City to a maternity hospital in southern Gaza as the first step towards evacuation, wore only small green diapers and hats.

"The babies came to me from Al Shifa Hospital. They were in a very bad condition when they arrived here," said Dr. Mohammad Salama, head of the neonatal unit at Al-Helal Al-Emirati Hospital in Rafah, southern Gaza.

"Some are suffering from malnutrition, others due to dehydration and some due to low temperatures. We have been trying to keep their condition stable over the past 24 hours," he told Reuters by telephone.

🚑The PRCS emergency medical services teams evacuated today 28 premature infants from the Emirates Hospital to the Rafah Crossing, to be transferred to receive medical treatment in Egyptian hospitals. 📌This was coordinated by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United… pic.twitter.com/TySONQPtfa

— PRCS (@PalestineRCS) November 20, 2023

The PRCS emergency medical services evacuated today 28 premature infants from the Emirates Hospital to the Rafah Crossing, to be transferred to medical treatment in Energy hospital. This was coordinated by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United... pic.twitter.com/TySONQPtfa

"As soon as we got the call to prepare the babies, we prepared them and were ready to travel."

Salama said some of the babies were accompanied by their mothers, while others who did not have relatives were accompanied by medical staff. In some cases, where their mother died or disappeared, another relative signed an approval form for the transfer, he said.

Egyptian government footage from the Rafah crossing showed the incubator being lifted into an ambulance and a doctor connecting the oxymeter to the baby's feet.

Previously, these newborns had attracted global attention since an eight-day image appeared showing them lying side by side in Al Shifa Hospital beds after their incubator was turned off due to a lack of electricity amid an Israeli military strike in Gaza City.

Doctors say conditions at Al Shifa are very dangerous for them, no infection control, inadequate sterilization equipment, lack of clean water and medicines and there is no possibility of adjusting the temperature and humidity levels to their respective needs.

Like the evacuation from Gaza to Rafah, ambulances from the Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) were again involved in evacuating babies to Egypt.

"This is done through coordination with the World Health Organization and the United Nations Office for Humanitarian Affairs Coordination (OCHA)," PRCS wrote on X, quoted by CNN.

According to an Egyptian government official, 28 babies were transported to Egypt. Four mothers and six nurses accompanying them will be sent to two separate hospitals for treatment, government sources added.