CAIRO 

Egypt has received 28 premature infants from the Gaza Strip through the Rafah border crossing, Health Minister Khaled Abdel Ghaffar announced late Monday.

Abdel Ghaffar said that “28 premature infants arrived today at the Rafah land port” in a statement posted on the ministry's Facebook page.

He noted that “the infants are currently being transferred to hospitals equipped with medical teams and state-of-the-art facilities to provide the necessary medical services for them,” without providing further details.

On Sunday, the Palestine Red Crescent Society announced that its teams evacuated 31 premature infants from Al-Shifa Hospital in northern Gaza to the Emirati Hospital in Rafah after being besieged by the Israeli army, forcing those present to evacuate.

Earlier on Monday, the head of the neonatal intensive care unit at the Emirati Hospital, Mohamed Salama, told Anadolu that “today, 28 premature infants out of the 31 who arrived at the hospital yesterday from Al-Shifa Medical Complex in Gaza left to continue their treatment in Egypt.”

He said that three infants remained in the hospital, with two of them staying at the request of their families for the stability of their health.

*Writing by Rania Abu Shamala