Tel Aviv: The Gaza-based Palestinian Health Ministry on Saturday alleged that a newborn baby died in the Al-Shifa Hospital due to the continued electricity outage at the besieged enclave largest medical facility.
In a statement, Ministry spokesman Ashraf Al-Qudra said the infant was among 37 premature babies in the hospital.
He said that the medical staff had been conducting manual artificial respiration on some of these children for the last three hours due to the complete power attack as a result of the Israeli attacks.
For over a month, no fuel has been allowed into the Gaza Strip, including to the Al-Shifa Hospital.
The spokesman also said that the Al-Shifa hospital complex courtyards were targeted by the Israeli shell stacks and fire has broken out in the complex.
There have been reports of Israeli attacks near the Al-Shifa Hospital, with staff and authorities posting online videos appearing to show heavy bombing in the area surrounding the complex.
A World Health Organization (WHO) spokesperson said Friday that al-Shifa was “coming under bombardment”, adding that 20 hospitals in the Gaza Strip were “out of action”.
In the early hours of Saturday, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said that a failed missile launched by terrorists in the Gaza Strip hit the Al-Shifa Hospital.
In a post on X, the IDF’s spokesperson in Arabic Avichay Adraee said that an analysis of the military’s “operational systems indicates that sabotage elements fired rockets this morning targeting IDF forces operating near Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City”.
“According to IDF systems, rocket-propelled grenades hit the hospital. Therefore, according to the information available to the IDF, terrorist organizations in the Gaza Strip are responsible for the failed missile launch that hit the hospital,” he added.
The IDF has maintained that the Hamas operates from tunnels underneath Al-Shifa.
The allegation however, has been denied by the militant group.
The development came a week after Israel targeted an ambulance outside the hospital, killing at least 15 people and injuring 50 others.
(IANS)
