TEL AVIV: The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) have said their troops delivered 300 litres of fuel to the Shifa hospital for urgent medical purposes.
The IDF said Hamas forbade the hospital from taking the fuel.
“Our troops risked their lives to hand-deliver 300 litres of fuel to the Shifa hospital for urgent medical purposes. Hamas forbade the hospital from taking it,” the IDF wrote on ‘X’. “Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry has been warning for weeks that its hospitals are running out of fuel. If so, why would they prevent the hospital from receiving it?” it further wrote.
Earlier, the IDF said it is working with Gaza’s hospital staff to provide safe passage southward for Gazans from Shifa Hospital. IDF Spokesperson Daniel Hagari said on Saturday, “There has been a lot of misinformation coming from Gaza today. So, I want to clarify the facts. There is no siege. I repeat, there is no siege of the Shifa Hospital.” He further said: “The east side of the hospital is open on Al-Wehda Street for the safe passage of Gazans who wish to leave the hospital. We are speaking directly and regularly with the hospital staff.”
“The staff of the hospital has requested that tomorrow (Sunday) they help the babies get to a safer hospital. We will provide the assistance needed, and there is something that the world must not forget, and we will not let the world forget,” he added.
Meanwhile, 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 was reported, quoting 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.
Bursh also said the hospital was “surrounded from all four directions,” estimating that 400 people were being treated at the hospital and around 20,000 displaced people were seeking shelter in the hospital complex.
The spokesman for the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza, Ashraf al-Qidra, said he was trapped inside the al-Shifa complex. Qidra said in a statement to CNN that the complex is currently “out of service” after repeatedly being targeted by Israeli fire.
“The intensive care unit, paediatric department, and oxygen devices have stopped working,” Dr. Qidra said.
Recently, IDF fighter jets struck a series of Hezbollah terrorist infrastructure and military posts in Lebanon in response to attacks over the last day. “In addition, a Hezbollah terrorist cell launched several rockets from Lebanon towards northern Israel earlier today. In response, an IDF aircraft struck the terrorist cell and launch pad,” the IDF wrote on ‘X’. (ANI/TPS)