31 neo-natal babies evacuated from Al-Shifa hospital, Red Crescent says

The PCRS said in a short statement Sunday that its ambulance crews, working alongside the World Health Organization and the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), were "able to evacuate 31 premature babies from Al-Shifa Hospital.”

“They were transported by Red Crescent ambulances to the south, in preparation for their transfer to the Emirates Hospital in Rafah," the statement said.

The Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza confirmed the evacuation.

Dr. Medhet Abbas, a spokesman for the ministry, told CNN in a message Sunday that “30 premature babies were evacuated from Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza by the United Nations team.”

It is unclear why the ministry's figure differed from that given by the PCRS – the WHO earlier said there were 32 babies remaining at Al-Shifa.

The hospital and its immediate vicinity have seen heavy shelling in the past week, and it has been unable to run incubators for the babies for lack of fuel. Several neo-natal babies in Al-Shifa have died.