UNICEF estimates that at least four thousand children in Gaza were cut off from life-saving newborn care last year due to ongoing attacks on hospitals, electricity outages, and fuel shortages.

Even before the current war, Gaza’s capacity for neonatal intensive care was insufficient to meet the large needs, and now the number of incubators available has dropped by 70 per cent to only about 54 across the Strip.

“At least 6,000 newborns need intensive care in the Gaza Strip each year. However, the real number may be higher, as doctors have told us that the proportion of premature babies, or those suffering from malnutrition or developmental problems and other health complications, has risen as the war has affected their growth, birth and care.”