‘The situation is dire: There is no oxygen available for them, nor is there any spare incubators in the hospital.’
A NURSE cares for a premature baby at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir el-Balah, Gaza Strip, on 15 March 2025.
Photograph courtesy of EYAD BABA/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
KHAN YUNIS (AFP) — Gaza hospitals are struggling to care for growing numbers of premature and underweight newborns as shortages of incubators, oxygen and other medical supplies strain the territory’s battered health system.
At Nasser hospital in Khan Yunis, two or three newborns are sometimes placed in a single incubator because of limited capacity.
“The situation is dire: There is no oxygen available for them, nor is there any spare incubators in the hospital,” said Hatem Dhahir, head of the hospital’s neonatal department.
Dhahir said the hospital has recorded a significant increase in premature births in recent months, as well as twins and triplets.
In March, the UN humanitarian agency OCHA said one in three pregnancies in Gaza were high-risk and 70 percent of newborns were premature or underweight. It warned that sharing incubators significantly increased mortality risks.
Gaza’s health system has been devastated by the war between Israel and Hamas, with many medical facilities completely or partially unusable. Israeli restrictions on goods entering the territory have also contributed to shortages of medical supplies and specialized equipment.
A UN-mandated inquiry in June said shortages of food, medical supplies and fuel, along with the collapse of health services, had contributed to increases in miscarriages, stillbirths, low-birthweight infants and congenital defects.
UNICEF has stepped up efforts to restore neonatal care, supplying 93 incubators to six facilities across Gaza.
But officials say demand remains high as hospitals struggle with limited equipment and capacity.
