Al-Shifa Babies
Al-Shifa babies refers to the (originally) 39 premature ("preemie") babies at Al-Shifa Hospital during the 2023 Israel War on Gaza, who were thrust into the headlines when their situation became precarious due to the failure of the heat and oxygen supplies to their incubators as a result of a total blackout of all power to Al-Shifa hospital after its fuel reserves ran out and its solar panels were shot out by Israeli military planes during the Israel-imposed complete siege and blockade of the Gaza Strip, which prevented all food, fuel, water, and electricity from entering the territory.[1] As of November 20, there were 31 of the original 39 neonatal babies still alive, some in critical condition, of which 28 were transferred to Egypt for continued care and treatment.[2][3]
Background Information[edit | edit source]
A few weeks into the 2023 Israel War on Gaza, it was estimated that there were 50,000 pregnant women (with approximately 180 giving birth each day) — fifteen percent of which were expected or estimated to need emergency medical intervention in response to complications during pregnancy or child birth — and 130 premature babies across the neonatal intensive care facilities in the hospitals of the Gaza Strip.
On October 9, 2023, Israel implemented a complete blockade of Gaza, cutting off the delivery/connectivity of all food, fuel, water, and electricity to the Strip.[1] Given that Israel routinely cuts power off to the Gaza Strip even at the best of times,[4][5] Gaza has a reserve power station generating electricity from diesel, which remained operational until its diesel reserves ran out on October 11.[6]. At this point, all Gaza hospitals warned that they only had small amounts of fuel that would be exhausted within days, posing a dire humanitarian risk.[7]
Timeline of Events[edit | edit source]
Babies removed from NICU as blackout begins[edit | edit source]
On November 13, 2023, doctors at Al-Shifa hospital announced that the fuel reserves at the hospital that kept its generator running had run out over the weekend (on Saturday, November 11, 2023) and that, as a result, the oxygen pumps and heating units that kept the NICU incubators functional were no longer working, turning the NICU incubators from a life-giving source to a death trap. The hospital was forced to remove its thirty-nine pre-term babies in the neonatal ICU from their incubators so that they could breathe, and took homemade measures to keep the premature babies warm.[8][9]
First three infant deaths[edit | edit source]
According to Al-Shifa hospital director Dr Mohammed Abu Salmiya, two babies died on Saturday, November 11, after being forced to remove the babies from the incubators,[10][11] while Dr Mohamed Tabasha, head of the pediatric department at Al Shifa, confirmed that three of the premature babies had died by Sunday, November 12, just within twenty-four hours of being transferred out of their NICU incubators:[9]
Yesterday I had 39 babies and today they have become 36. I cannot say how long they can last. I can lose another two babies today, or in an hour.
— Dr Mohamed Tabasha
Dr Tabasha explained that there was no longer any way of sterilizing their milk or the bottles and that as a result, some had contracted gastritis and were suffering from diarrhea and vomiting, putting them at an acute risk of dehydration. He added that the preterm babies were too cold due to the power cuts and that in the absence of infection control measures (with medical supplies and medication being exhausted or extremely rationed), they were transmitting viruses to each other, to which they were extremely susceptible as they were newly born with no immunity.[9]
Evacuation from Al-Shifa[edit | edit source]
On Sunday, November 19, 2023, it was reported that the remaining 31 premature babies were evacuated from Al-Shifa by members of the Palestinian Red Crescent and World Health Organization to Al-Helal Maternity Hospital in Rafah.[2][12] The babies were moved in temperature-controlled mobile incubators, and were reported to have been in "rapidly deteriorating" condition. They were stabilized at Al-Helal, from where they are currently waiting to be transferred to a hospital in Egypt when conditions allow.[2]
Transfer to Egypt[edit | edit source]
On November 20, 2023, the Palestine Red Crescent Society announced that 28 of the premature babies were moved out of Al-Helal Maternity Hospital and were scheduled to be transferred to a hospital in Egypt, with coordination assistance from the World Health Organization and UNOCHA, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. The remaining three (of the 31 transferred to Al-Helal) were reported to be in good condition and remained at Al-Helal.[3] A video was shared showing some of the babies being transported out of Al-Helal in an ambulance.
Assistance from Israel[edit | edit source]
Offers of a partial evacuation[edit | edit source]
According to the director of Al-Shifa Hospital, Dr Mohammed Abu Salmiya, attempts were made to secure IDF assistance to evacuate the newborns to a different hospital as early as November 11, due to the IDF's targeting of Al-Shifa as the focal point of its ground invasion and turning the entire neighborhood around it into a hostile military zone.[13] IDF spokesperson Daniel Hagari claimed that the Israeli military had offered to evacuate the babies, but Dr Abu Salmiya denied that had happened, saying
I offered this to them [the Israeli army]. I offered to evacuate the babies to safe places, using ambulances, but they did not answer.[10]
Since then, IDF spokespersons have repeated vague claims of promising to arrange for an evacuation for all or some of the patients in critical condition,[14] but the World Health Organization said that forcing critically ill patients to flee hospitals in Gaza would be a “death sentence”.[15]
IDF claimed delivery of incubators and fuel[edit | edit source]
As the global sympathy for and outrage over the plight of the premature babies continued to grow, the IDF launched a campaign to curry favor,[14] releasing pictures of mobile NICU incubators being loaded into a military vehicle and a video that purported to show them delivering 300 liters of fuel for "urgent medical purposes" at Al-Shifa hospital, which was never received. According to the IDF, "the IDF received evidence that Hamas officials prevented the hospital from receiving the fuel," though the IDF did not clarify what actually happened to the fuel after this supposed encounter.[16] This claim was loudly denied by doctors and administrators at Al-Shifa hospital as well as representatives of the Hamas government in the Gaza Health Ministry, who insisted that they had made it clear they would be amenable to accepting fuel for the Al-Shifa generators, but that it needed to be delivered safely via the International Committee of the Red Cross.[15] Several doctors at Al-Shifa emphasized that the IDF promise of 300 liters was farcical, given that they would power the hospital for only half an hour, with the hospital needing 8,000-10,000 liters of fuel a day.[15][17] In addition, Al-Shifa was not in need of the incubators the IDF showed pictures of it transporting (though no confirmation of their arrival at Al-Shifa took place), as the problem there was not the lack of incubators but rather the lack of fuel to run them.
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Gaza water supply is just 17 percent of pre-siege levels, despite new fuel announcement". Oxfam International. 2023-11-17. Retrieved 2023-11-18.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Vivian Yee (2023-11-19). "Premature Babies Are Evacuated From Embattled Hospital in Gaza". New York Times. Retrieved 2023-11-19.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Palestine Red Crescent Society [@PalestineRCS] (2023-11-20). "🚑 Today the PRCS teams evacuated 28 premature infants to receive medical treatment in Egyptian hospitals. This comes in coordination by the @WHO & @UNOCHA. 👶 3 others infants are in good health stayed at the Emirates Hospital in Rafah" (Tweet). Retrieved 2023-11-20 – via Twitter.
- ↑ Abier Almasri (2017-08-20). "In Gaza, we get four hours of electricity a day — if we're lucky". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2023-11-18.
- ↑ "Summer 2020: Gaza's electricity crisis deepens again, with 4 hours of daily supply". B'Tselem. 2020-10-29. Retrieved 2023-11-18.
- ↑ Ibrahim Dahman (2023-10-11). "Gaza's sole power station stops working as fuel runs out, after Israel orders 'complete' blockade". CNN. Retrieved 2023-11-18.
- ↑ Jobain, Najib; Kullab, Samya; Nessam, Ravi (2023-10-15). "Gaza hospitals are overwhelmed with patients and desperately low on supplies as invasion looms". AP News. Retrieved 2023-11-18.
- ↑ Magee, Zoe; Miller, Jordana (2023-11-13). "Gazan doctors plead for help in saving premature babies at Al-Shifa Hospital". ABC News. Retrieved 2023-11-18.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 Al Ahmar, Abir; Al-Mughrabi, Nidal (2023-11-13). "Too close and too cold, premature babies in grave peril at Gaza's Al Shifa hospital". Reuters. Retrieved 2023-11-18.
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 "Two premature babies die, 37 under threat at Gaza's al-Shifa Hospital". Al Jazeera. 2023-11-11. Retrieved 2023-11-18.
"Unfortunately, we've lost two out of 39 babies because of the power outage," Abu Salmiya, the head of the largest medical complex in Gaza, said. "We are talking about premature babies who require very intensive care."
- ↑ Nada Bashir (2023-11-14). "Video: Doctors in Gaza hospital forced to remove premature babies from incubators as supplies run out". CNN. Retrieved 2023-11-18.
- ↑ Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director [@DrTedros] (November 19, 2023). "Update on Al-Shifa Hospital" (Tweet). Retrieved 2023-11-19 – via Twitter.
- ↑ Emine Sinmaz; Jason Burke (2023-11-15). "Israeli soldiers raid al-Shifa hospital in escalation of Gaza offensive". Guardian. Retrieved 2023-11-18.
- ↑ 14.0 14.1 Yuliya Talmazan; Chantal Da Silva (2023-11-14). "As outrage grows over fate of babies in Gaza hospital, Israel offers incubators and fuel". NBC News. Retrieved 2023-11-18.
- ↑ 15.0 15.1 15.2 Emine Sinmaz; Oliver Holmes (2023-11-13). "Israeli forces at gates of Gaza's main hospital with hundreds trapped". the Guardian. Retrieved 2023-11-18.
- ↑ Emanuel Fabian (2023-11-12). "IDF: We supplied 300 liters of fuel to Shifa, Hamas barred hospital from getting it". Times of Israel. Retrieved 2023-11-18.
- ↑ Ruth Michaelson (2023-11-13). "'In the circle of death': Gaza doctors say patients are under siege in al-Shifa". The Guardian. Retrieved 2023-11-18.