--- description: The Patient's Friends Benevolent Hospital in Gaza City faces an evacuation order from the Israeli military, which warns of attack. title: Last North Gaza Hospital for Premature Babies at Risk image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf36e3a2879fb1c6f/698b24bee6e84a347c2ba851/nicu-gaza-premature-babies.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Israel-Hamas War](/tag/israel-hamas-war/) ## Israel-Hamas War Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # North Gaza Neonatal Intensive Care Unit Hit With Evacuation Order by [Juwayriah Wright](/author/juwayriah-wright/) ## Juwayriah Wright Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Wright is an Editorial Producer for TIME. Dec 13, 2024 10:43 PM CUT  Premature babies evacuated from Kamal Adwan Hospital in Jabalia due to Israeli attacks are receiving care at the Patient Friends Association Hospital, which opened a dedicated section for them in Gaza City, Gaza on Oct. 14, 2024. Premature babies evacuated from Kamal Adwan Hospital in Jabalia due to Israeli attacks are receiving care at the Patient Friends Association Hospital, which opened a dedicated section for them in Gaza City, Gaza on Oct. 14, 2024.Momen Faiz—Anadolu/Getty Images by [Juwayriah Wright](/author/juwayriah-wright/) ## Juwayriah Wright Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Wright is an Editorial Producer for TIME. Dec 13, 2024 10:43 PM CUT Northern Gaza is facing a catastrophic collapse in neonatal care after Israel’s latest evacuation order, according to doctors and aid groups. The order affects an estimated 20 to 25,000 people in the Al-Remal and Sabra neighborhoods, which includes the ​​Patient’s Friends Benevolent Society Hospital. It has the only neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) in [northern Gaza](https://time.com/7176657/the-questions-israels-plans-for-north-gaza-endgame/ "undefined") that receives premature babies. The evacuation order came from IDF Spokesperson [Achivay Adraee](https://www.newarab.com/news/who-avichay-adraee-israeli-spreading-panic-lebanon "undefined")’s X account Thursday evening. The [post](https://x.com/avichayadraee/status/1867231466415177970?s=46 "undefined"), originally in Arabic, reads: “This is a warning before an attack! Terrorist organizations are firing rockets again from this area. This specific area has been warned several times in the past. For your safety, move immediately to shelters in Gaza City Center.” “It's not a game when they throw leaflets or when they announce that there are evacuation orders,” Mahmoud Shalabi, Deputy Director of Programmes at Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP) told TIME from Gaza City. Shalabi and his family have been internally displaced for more than seventy days. “\[The evacuation order\] is like spreading fire in hay. Everything starts spreading immediately over social media,” Shalabi said. MAP, a[ private British aid group](https://www.map.org.uk/about-map/about-map "undefined"), has provided assistance with essential staffing and resources to PFBS since August 2024\. Its NICU started operations in October, with incubators salvaged from other hospitals – including Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahia to the north. That facility, which the chief of the World Health Organization [says still has 96 patients](https://x.com/DrTedros/status/1867314434756292820 "undefined"), remains besieged by Israeli forces operating in the area, and CNN reported that a hospital official [said ](https://www.cnn.com/2024/12/06/middleeast/kamal-adwan-gaza-israel-hospital-raid-intl/index.html "undefined")four doctors were among dozens killed around the compound on Friday. Shalabi says some of the half-dozen incubators now at PFBS came—babies included—from Kamal Adwan. **Read More:** [_How Leaked Police Interviews with Benjamin Netanyahu Became ‘The Bibi Files’_](https://time.com/7200159/the-bibi-files-documentary-police-interrogation-netanyahu-corruption-trial/ "undefined") The only other Gaza City hospital with a NICU, Al-Sahaba hospital, operates under limited capacity, and is only able to offer basic level one care to [infants](https://time.com/7011918/gaza-infants-death-toll-twins-killed-israel-hamas-war/ "undefined")— those without complex or intensive medical needs. PFBS also provides gynecology, delivery and general surgery services. Many of the patients cannot be moved in their condition. This fall, when the facility began providing life-saving treatment for premature infants in a region where the [health care system](https://www.redcross.org.uk/stories/disasters-and-emergencies/world/plunging-temperatures-broken-healthcare-and-disease-in-gaza "undefined") has been steadily dismantled, patient visits surged, [climbing](https://www.map.org.uk/news/archive/post/1660-northern-gaza-hospital-delivers-life-saving-care-with-mapas-support-amid-systematic-attacks "undefined") from 7,320 in July to 42,999 by October. All health care professionals in Gaza, including the five doctors and ten nurses working at the NICU, are at personal risk. As of summer 2024, nearly 500 healthcare workers had been [killed](https://www.un.org/unispal/document/statement-gaza-ohchr-25jun24/ "undefined") in Gaza since the conflict began. On Thursday, Dr. Saeed Jouda, the last orthopedic surgeon in northern Gaza, was [killed](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DEejU13w%5FXs "undefined") by an Israeli drone near Kamal Adwan. “Gaza is very tiny. There aren't many options left for the health authorities to decide where we want to move \[services\],” Shalabi says. “ Much of the space has been taken out and has been reduced to smithereens. So there is no place left for people to go.” The buzz of a [drone](https://reliefweb.int/report/occupied-palestinian-territory/gaza-israel-systematically-uses-quadcopters-kill-palestinians-close-distance-enar "undefined") that Shalabi described as “armed to the teeth” was audible as he spoke to TIME. "It has been a constant feature in our lives, you know, drone sounds… but not as intense as what's happening during this war, not as intense as it is right now.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/7202257/gaza-nicu-israel-evacuation-order-neonatal-pfbs/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/7202257/gaza-nicu-israel-evacuation-order-neonatal-pfbs/"},"headline":"North Gaza Neonatal Intensive Care Unit Hit With Evacuation Order","datePublished":"2024-12-13T22:43:06.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-10T23:17:54.575Z","description":"The neonatal intensive care unit at Patient's Friends Benevolent Society faces an evacuation order from the Israeli military.","url":"https://time.com/7202257/gaza-nicu-israel-evacuation-order-neonatal-pfbs/","keywords":["Israel-Hamas War","News Desk"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf36e3a2879fb1c6f/698b24bee6e84a347c2ba851/nicu-gaza-premature-babies.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Juwayriah Wright","jobTitle":"Wright is an Editorial Producer for TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/juwayriah-wright/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf36e3a2879fb1c6f/698b24bee6e84a347c2ba851/nicu-gaza-premature-babies.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Patient Friends Association Hospital opens a section for premature babies evacuated from Jabalia","caption":"Premature babies evacuated from Kamal Adwan Hospital in Jabalia due to Israeli attacks and the blockade are receiving care at the Patient Friends Association Hospital, which opened a dedicated section for them in Gaza City, Gaza on Oct. 14, 2024.","creditText":"Momen Faiz—Anadolu/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/israel-hamas-war/","name":"Israel-Hamas War"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/7202257/gaza-nicu-israel-evacuation-order-neonatal-pfbs/","name":"North Gaza Neonatal Intensive Care Unit Hit With Evacuation Order"}}]}] ```