The Picture of Two Israeli Soldiers Is of Them Visiting Their Newborn Children in a Settlement, Not Al-Shifa Hospital

Misbar investigated the claim and found it to be misleading. 

The picture was posted on November 8, nearly a week before occupation forces stormed Al-Shifa Hospital. It is not depicting the Israelis showing their care or concern to the premature babies at Al-Shifa.

Israeli Babies at a Medical Center

Misbar found that the picture shows Israeli babies in a medical center called Shamir Medical Center (formerly Assaf Harofeh), located southeast of Tel Aviv in the Be'er Ya'akov settlement. The source who published it cited, “Two Israeli soldiers (Eviatar and Mor) are visiting their babies, after returning from combat on short-term leave.”

An Unknown Fate Awaits 36 Premature Babies in Gaza

This claim was posted after the deaths of three premature babies were announced at Al-Shifa Hospital and reports came alerting us of 36 others whose fates were unknown, after operations at the department with the incubators ceased because the electricity and oxygen ran out and the Israeli Occupation Forces stormed the hospital on the night of November 15

Dr. Mohamed Tabasha, head of the pediatric department at Al-Shifa Hospital, in a phone interview with Reuters, said that instead of putting premature babies in incubators, they were forced to transfer them in a normal crib at the beginning of the week due to the electricity shortage. 

They put them side by side and surrounded them with diaper packages and cardboard boxes of sterilized gauze and plastic bags. He added that the newborns’ temperature is very low and fluctuates because of the power cuts. In the absence of infection control measures, viruses are spreading among them and severely weakening their immunity.

In a statement to BBC, the director of Al-Shifa Hospital, Dr. Muhammad Abu Salmiya, added that these babies need clean water, and unless that is provided to them and nothing prevents them from using incubators, it is certain that some of these children’s conditions will begin to worsen and could even lead to their deaths.

Al-Shifa Hospital Shut Down Entirely

The Gazan Ministry of Health spokesperson, Ashraf al-Qidra, had announced that Al-Shifa Hospital, the largest medical complex in the Gaza Strip, had completely shut down because of the Israeli strikes that hit it and the fuel needed to run the generators ran out.

Al-Qidra added that leaving the complex, which includes several hospitals, out of service constitutes a true catastrophe, especially shutting down the intensive care and pediatric units and leaving oxygen machines inoperative.

According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, Israeli bombs have killed 4,707 children in the Gaza Strip since the assault began.

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