Premature babies evacuated from Gaza’s al-Shifa

 Thirty-one premature Palestinian babies have been evacuated from Gaza City’s al-Shifa hospital, which the World Health Organisation (WHO) has described as a “death zone”.

The babies have been taken to an Emirati hospital in the southern city of Rafah, close to the Egyptian border.

Hundreds of people, including patients, left from al-Shifa on Saturday.

The hospital – the territory’s largest and most modern – is under the control of Israeli troops.

They have been searching the complex for evidence that it served as headquarters of Hamas.

The group, classified as a terrorist organi­sation in many Western countries, launched the attack in Israel on October 7 in which 1,200 people were killed and more than 240 taken hostage.

Israel has launched a massive retaliatory operation – involving air and artillery strikes as well as ground troops – with the aim of eliminating Hamas.

The Hamas-run health ministry says the death toll in Gaza since then has reached 12,300. More than 2,000 more are feared to be buried under rubble.

The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) has been occupying al-Shifa since Wednesday in what it has called a “precise and targeted” opera­tion against Hamas.

—BBC