Situation for babies and mothers in Gaza 'never been worse', says Unicef

Premature babies forced to 'share single oxygen source' in Al Nasser Hospital

A premature Palestinian baby is evacuated from Al Helal International Hospital to be transported to a hospital in southern Gaza for specialist medical care. Reuters

Newborns and mothers in Gaza are facing catastrophic conditions, Unicef spokesman James Elder said on Friday, as overwhelmed hospitals in the south face an influx of patients in the face of intensified Israeli attacks on Gaza city.

The forced mass displacement of Palestinians from the north has further strained Gaza's crumbling health sector, with hospitals struggling to support new mothers and their babies.

“The situation for mothers and newborns has never been worse. In six missions to Gaza, I have never seen it like this," he said, describing his visit to Al Nasser Hospital in the southern strip.

"New mothers and vulnerable newborns lying on the floor. Three premature babies share a single oxygen source – each child breathing for 20 minutes, before giving way to the next."

Israel's advance on Gaza city has forced hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to relocate to the south, despite dire and dangerous conditions.

Mr Elder described designated safe zones to where families are being ordered to move as "places of death". He said: “The question I am asked everywhere in Gaza city – from women, from the elderly and from children – is: ‘Where can I go that will be safe?' And the answer remains the same after almost two years: nowhere.

"Nowhere is safe in the Gaza Strip."

Gaza authorities last week accused the Israeli army of killing about 2,000 people in areas it had designated as safe and “humanitarian”, after forcing them to leave Gaza city, where it began an expanded ground offensive last month.

More than 400,000 Palestinians have left what was once the strip's most populous area, said Mr Elder, but tens of thousands of children remain as families face an impossible choice. Israel's eviction order has forced civilians to pay a hefty price to move to an area where safety is cannot be guaranteed.

Mr Elder recalled meeting children who have been "paralysed, burnt, or had limbs amputated following direct hits on tents housing displaced families". He said he also met "many children who had been shot by quadcopters".

"When the world adjusts and normalises this level of violence and deprivation, something is profoundly broken," he said.

As Israel's war on Gaza nears the end of its second year, the World Health Organisation estimates more than 10,000 children in the enclave have sustained “life-changing injuries”, including amputations, spinal cord damage, traumatic brain damage, major burns and facial scarring that will cause disfigurement.

At the same time, only 13 of Gaza's 36 hospitals remain partially functional, the WHO said, leaving the health system struggling to provide crucial recovery and rehabilitation for these children. Israel has been accused of deliberately targeting hospitals and healthcare workers in Gaza.

In a statement published on Friday, Mercy Corps described the situation in the strip as a "hellscape". Children know "nothing but fear and deprivation, while parents make impossible choices just to try to keep them alive", the humanitarian group added.

Mr Elder said Palestinian children are the "only victim" of what UN experts, human rights groups and scholars have described as genocide.