Israel has repeatedly denied permission to transfer incubators from an evacuated hospital in North Gaza, a U.N. children's agency official said on Tuesday (October 7), adding to strain on overcrowded hospitals further south where newborn babies are now sharing oxygen masks.

Two years of war between Israel and Hamas has increased stress and malnourishment among pregnant mothers, leading to a rise in premature and underweight babies who the World Health Organization says now account for a fifth of all Gaza newborns.

Over the past month an Israeli assault on Gaza City in northern Gaza has shut hospitals in that area, worsening overcrowding in hospitals that remain open in the south.

James Elder, UNICEF spokesperson, described mothers and babies lining the corridor floors of Nasser Hospital in southern Gaza, and said that premature babies were being forced to share oxygen masks and beds. Meanwhile, vital equipment is stranded in hospitals that have been shut in the north.

"We've been trying to recover incubators from a hospital that was evacuated in the north, and we've had four missions denied simply to get those incubators," he told Reuters by video link from Gaza, referring to supplies now stuck at the damaged Al-Rantissi Children's Hospital in Gaza City.

At a hospital Elder visited in the south, meanwhile, "in one of the paediatric rooms, there were three babies and three mums on a single bed, one source of oxygen, and the mothers would rotate the oxygen 20 minutes to each child," he said. "This is the level of desperation mums have now got to."

Israel's COGAT, a military branch overseeing aid flows, did not immediately respond to a request for comment on UNICEF's remarks. Israel says it is committed to allowing aid deliveries in Gaza but must control it to prevent it being stolen by Hamas, which it blames for the crisis.

The U.N. humanitarian office said on Tuesday that Israel had either denied or impeded 45% of its 8,000 requested humanitarian missions within Gaza since Oct. 7, 2023.

UNICEF has called for the evacuation of ill and premature babies remaining in northern Gaza hospitals. The WHO transferred three of them last week to a hospital further south, but said one died before the mission. Only 14 of Gaza's 36 hospitals are currently even partially functional, the WHO says.

DESCRIPCIÓN DE IMÁGENES

GAZA CITY, GAZA (OCTOBER 2, 2025) (UNICEF - Access all)

1. VARIOUS OF NEWBORN BABIES IN INCUBATORS

KHAN YOUNIS, GAZA (OCTOBER 7, 2025) (REUTERS - Access all)

2. (SOUNDBITE) (English) UNICEF SPOKESPERSON, JAMES ELDER, SAYING:

“In one of the paediatric rooms, there were three babies, three babies and three mums on a single bed, one source of oxygen, and the mothers would rotate the oxygen 20 minutes to each child. This is the level of desperation mums have now got. And it's again, it's entirely political. This is not a logistical problem. The incubators, you know, we've been trying to recover incubators from a hospital that was evacuated in the north, and we've had four missions denied simply to get those incubators, take them to Al-Shifa Hospital where there's a desperate need, and bring other ones south to Nasser Hospital.”

GAZA CITY, GAZA (OCTOBER 2, 2025) (UNICEF - Access all)

3. VARIOUS OF NEWBORN BABIES IN INCUBATORS

KHAN YOUNIS, GAZA (OCTOBER 7, 2025) (REUTERS - Access all)

4. (SOUNDBITE) (English) UNICEF SPOKESPERSON, JAMES ELDER, SAYING:

“You've got one hospital trying to care for an impossible number of people. And critically among that has been the denials of incubators coming into Gaza. We spoke about this for months and months and months trying to get incubators in. Now, we've had success recently. We've had, we have had success. But like everything, it comes late. And when these come late, you lose children's lives. It's the same for nutrition. The damage has been done and you start getting nutritional supplies and you don't just change a baby or a mother's life instantaneously. It takes time. So a lot of the damage has been done, and that's what's happening right now as well with premature babies.”

GAZA CITY, GAZA (OCTOBER 2, 2025) (UNICEF - Access all)

5. VARIOUS OF NEWBORN BABIES IN INCUBATORS

6. LARGE OXYGEN BOTTLES PLACED IN PLASTIC BEDS

7. VARIOUS OF HEART MONITORS

KHAN YOUNIS, GAZA (OCTOBER 7, 2025) (REUTERS - Access all)

8. (SOUNDBITE) (English) UNICEF SPOKESPERSON, JAMES ELDER, SAYING:

“You see, you know, mums and newborns lining the corridor floors. I've not seen that. I've seen wounded children, not newborns. You see, you know, multiple babies, premature babies, newborns sharing a single bed or a single oxygen source. So there is always a human face behind a denial and there's always a life at risk. Right now that is the most fragile of all lives, that's newborn babies.”

GAZA CITY, GAZA (OCTOBER 2, 2025) (UNICEF - Access all)

9. AMBULANCE DRIVING BY

10. VARIOUS OF BABY LYING IN AN HOSPITAL BED

11. VARIOUS OF U.N. STAFF UNLOADING HUMANITARIAN AID BOXES FROM VEHICLE