Tel Aviv [Israel], November 19 : The Hamas-controlled Ministry of Health has said that the World Health Organization is planning to evacuate 30 neo-natal babies from the Al-Shifa hospital in northern Gaza, CNN reported on Sunday.
It reported quoting the spokesperson from the ministry, "World Health Organization, using ambulances of the Palestinian Red Crescent, planned to carry out the evacuation of the babies on Sunday, adding that they were waiting for Israeli military bulldozers to open the way."
Meanwhile, the WHO has not confirmed the evacuation would take place but Richard Brennan, the WHO emergency director for the Eastern Mediterranean region, said that the agency was working on a detailed plan with partners including the Palestine Red Crescent and the UN relief agency in Gaza, UNRWA, as well as UNICEF.
"I can't go into details on that plan right now but we hope to have some more encouraging news later in the day," Brennan told CNN. He added that moving the babies was a major priority.
After an assessment mission led by WHO that visited Al-Shifa on Saturday, the agency said that "over the next 24-72 hours, pending guarantees of safe passage by parties to the conflict, additional missions are being arranged to urgently transport patients from Al-Shifa to Nasser Medical Complex and European Gaza Hospital in the south of Gaza. Patients include 32 babies in extremely critical condition."
Brennan also told CNN: "We expect to have a series of convoys over the coming days to bring patients down to two main hospitals in the south, the European hospital and Nasser hospitals."
Meanwhile, the Israel Defence Forces on Saturday denied that they demanded Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City to evacuate within an hour, adding that it only accepted the requests of the medical centre's director to make a safe route for those who wished to leave, The Times of Israel reported.
"This morning, the IDF acceded to the request of the director of Shifa Hospital to enable additional Gazans who were in the hospital and would like to evacuate to do so via the secure route," the IDF said in a statement.
The IDF further stated that they had in fact proposed that any requests for medical evacuation would be provided by the IDF, according to The Times of Israel.
"At no point did the IDF order the evacuation of patients or medical teams and in fact, it proposed that any request for medical evacuation would be facilitated by the IDF," the statement added.
Moreover, it said that the medical professionals will be there in the hospital to support patients in Al-Shifa Hospital who cannot evacuate.
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