On the 37th day of the Israel-Gaza conflict, the Israeli military is set to assist in the evacuation of infants stranded at Gaza's Al Shifa Hospital on Sunday. Here are the top ten developments on the Israel-Hamas war.
1. The Chief Israeli military spokesperson Admiral Daniel Hagari, said that the military will facilitate the evacuation of children who are currently trapped in Gaza's Al Shifa Hospital on the upcoming Sunday. “The staff of the Shifa hospital has requested that tomorrow we help the babies in the pediatric department to get to a safer hospital. We will provide the assistance needed,” Hagari told a news conference, as reported by Reuters.
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2. Three babies died in the neonatal unit of Al-Shifa Hospital located in northern Gaza after the hospital went “out of service” amid continuous Israeli fire in the vicinity, CNN reported quoting the Hamas-controlled Ministry of Health on Saturday.
It reported quoting Dr. Munir Al-Bursh, Director-General of the Hamas-controlled Ministry of Health that the doctors in the neonatal ward are now being forced to carry out artificial respiration by hand on the 36 babies that they are treating in the hospital.
3. Meanwhile, the Palestinian health ministry said on Saturday that 39 babies are at risk of death in Gaza's Al-Shifa hospital after electricity was cut off and amid a lack of oxygen and medicine. The ministry sent out a statement correcting remarks made by Health Minister Mai al-Kaila in a televised press conference in which she said “39 infants died in the modern care for children department because they couldn't get oxygen or medicine to them and electricity was cut off.”
4. According to the spokesperson for the Gaza Health Ministry, operations at the Al Shifa hospital complex, the largest in the enclave, came to a halt on Saturday due to the depletion of fuel supplies. “As a result, one newborn baby died inside the incubator, where there are 45 babies,” Ashraf Al-Qidra, the spokesman for the Health Ministry in Hamas-controlled Gaza told Reuters.
5. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in response to French President Emmanuel Macron's call for Israel to cease attacks on civilians in Gaza, asserted that Hamas bears responsibility for the casualties, not Israel, as reported by The Times of Israel.
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6. "While Israel is doing everything to refrain from harming civilians and calling on them to leave areas of fighting, Hamas-ISIS is doing everything to prevent them from leaving for safe areas and is using them as human shields," Netanyahu said in a statement.
7. The World Health Organization (WHO) said a loss of communication with its contacts at Al Shifa Hospital in northern Gaza. Expressing "grave concerns" for the safety of those caught in the conflict, the organization called for an immediate ceasefire.
8. The Israel Defense Forces carried out the evacuation of Rantisi Hospital in the Gaza Strip, on Saturday. Officials from the military stated that they chose not to target Hamas terrorists who were leaving the area alongside civilians, both on foot and in vehicles and ambulances. The decision was made to prevent harm to Palestinian noncombatants, ANI reported.
9. Saudi Arabia and several other Muslim nations collectively demanded an immediate cessation of military operations in Gaza on Saturday, dismissing Israel's justification for its actions against Palestinians as self-defence.
10. Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi praised the Palestinian Islamist militant group Hamas for its resistance against Israel and called on Islamic countries to impose sanctions on Israel, including those related to oil and goods, Reuters reported. “There is no other way but to resist Israel. We kiss the hands of Hamas for its resistance against Israel,” Raisi said in his address.
(With inputs from agencies)
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