[Source: BBC News]

There are 36 surviving premature babies. There were 39, but we lost three,” Dr Marwan Abu Saada, the head of Al-Shifa’s general surgery department, tells me down a faint phone line.

Those who remain have no surviving parents or guardians, and in the chaos of war, their relatives cannot be found, he said.

Two of the babies were found alone in the aftermath of Israel Defense Force shelling, and brought to the hospital. Four others were born by Caesarean section after their mothers had died.

Due to lack of fuel, the babies have been moved from their incubators in the neo-natal unit to the cardiac surgery operating theatre, Abu Saada tells me.

There they lie, eight or 10 to a bed, on top of heated blankets and covered in foil to keep them warm.

Labels are attached to each baby, saying “the son of” or “the daughter of” alongside their mother’s names – if its known.

With limited access to water, doctors are struggling to maintain sterile conditions, and Dr Abu Saada worries the babies could develop sepsis due unclean oxygen tubes.

“That’s why we’re calling for these babies to be evacuated,” he says.

He tells me that since the IDF stormed the complex, a connecting bridge between the general surgery and specialised surgery buildings have been hit – cutting off his contact with the neonatal unit.