Seven babies have been bundled together for warmth – a desperate bid to save their lives – in a heart-breaking image shared Tuesday from Gaza City’s Al Shifa Hospital. The city’s largest hospital has been crippled by fuel shortages and is stuck inside a “circle of death” as Hamas forces and Israeli military wage a bloody war on its doorsteps; access has been blocked by tanks, and medical staff are bracing for mass casualties within its walls.

The seven babies are among 39 born prematurely – they weigh less than 1.5 kg each. Each should be in incubators so body temperatures can be regulated. Instead, they were moved to ordinary beds – placed side-by-side and covered by packets of nappies and cardboard boxes of sterile gauze – over the weekend because there is no more fuel to run the generators that power the incubators.

“Yesterday I had 39 babies… today 36,” Dr Mohamed Tabasha, the paediatric head, told Reuters Monday. “I cannot say how long they can last. I can lose another two babies today… or in an hour.”

By the end of the day three more (and nine adult patients) had died, AFP reported.

READ | 6 Babies, 9 Others Dead In Gaza Hospital After Fuel Shortage

Cold (and bullets and missiles) aren’t the only reason the babies are dying.

Dr Tabasha said the babies are contracting multiple virus in the absence of any natural immunity or infection control measures provided by an incubator.

There is also no way of sterilising their milk – what little is left – and some had contracted gastritis and were suffering from diarrhoea and vomiting, which leaves them at risk of dehydration.

“They are in a very bad situation… where you slowly kill them unless the situation improves…” Dr Ahmed El Mokhallalati, also involved in caring for the babies, told Reuters by telephone.

And to ensure the babies live – at least long enough to see the carnage and destruction wrought on Gaza by Israel and the Hamas – Dr Tabasha will need an uninterrupted supply of electricity, sterilisers for the milk and bottle teats, and support machines when any of them fall into respiratory failure.

There are over 650 patients – waiting to be evacuated by the Red Cross – at the besieged Al Shifa Hospital that lacks essentials – diesel, food, water, medicines and medical equipment.

READ | WHO Loses Contact With Gaza Hospital “Surrounded By Tanks”

Israeli forces insist the hospital sits atop a network of tunnels that form part of the Hamas’ underground headquarters, and that the group’s operatives are using the patients as a shield.

Tel Aviv also insists it has evidence to show Hamas stored weapons, including grenades, suicide vests and other explosives, in the basement of another Gaza hospital. “… we also found signs that indicate that Hamas held hostages here,” Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, a military spokesperson, said Monday.

The Hamas, and Gaza’s health officials, have denied all such allegations.

The World Health Organization said Monday that it had finally managed to re-establish contact with the Al Shifa Hospital, and warned; “… the hospital is not functioning as a hospital anymore.”

.@WHO has managed to get in touch with health professionals at the Al-Shifa hospital in #Gaza.

The situation is dire and perilous.

It’s been 3 days without electricity, without water and with very poor internet which has severely impacted our ability to provide essential…

— Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (@DrTedros) November 12, 2023

Al Quds, a second major hospital in northern Gaza, has been cut off from the world for a week.

The Palestinian Red Crescent said it was surrounded by heavy gunfire, and a convoy of Red Cross vehicles sent to evacuate patients and staff had been unable to reach the facility.

Hospitals, and medical personnel, are protected under international humanitarian law and parties in conflict must ensure their protection. They cannot be used to shield military objectives from attack, but any operation around or within must protect patients, staff, and other civilians, the United Nations’ Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said in its Monday update from Gaza.

Israel had pledged to help evacuate the babies. That has not happened so far.

READ | Israel Offers Gaza Hospital Evacuation For Babies But Fighting Continues

Israeli forces did offer to supply the hospital would fuel but would only give 300 litres, enough only for 30 minutes and a fraction of the 8,000 to 10,000 litres needed to run the main generators.

Israel faces intense international pressure to halt civilian loss amid a brutal air and ground operation that Hamas says has already killed over 11,000 people, 40 per cent of whom were children.

With input from agencies

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In the face of “simmering anger” against the ruling BRS in Telangana, the BJP will get a comfortable majority to form its first government in the state after the November 30 polls, state BJP chief G Kishan Reddy has said.

There will be no hung assembly and the saffron party will land in the ruling saddle comfortably, Mr Reddy, Union Minister for Tourism, told PTI in an exclusive interview.

Mr Reddy said it is palpable that Telangana people want a change as they have lost faith in both the BRS and Congress, believing that “they are in cahoots.” 

“There is no question of a hung assembly because there is simmering anger against the BRS government. It will explode like a volcano. People are not coming out because of the fear of police and goons.” 

“The Bharatiya Janata Party will get an absolute majority. We are working with the intention that the party would get an absolute majority and it will come also,” Mr Reddy said.

He said the Telangana unit of the BJP has requested the central leadership to ensure Prime Minister Narendra Modi addresses four rallies in the state in the run-up to the polls and is awaiting its response.

He further said Telangana people want a change which will not come with the BRS or Congress because even if the grand old party wins, there is a perception that some of its MLAs will join the BRS.

“The change which Telangana people want is possible only with BJP,” he said.

The BJP in Telangana got a vote share of nearly seven per cent by winning only one seat in the 2018 assembly polls. However, the saffron party won in two by-elections subsequently besides putting up an impressive performance in the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation polls.

Within four months after the assembly polls, BJP resurged by winning four Lok Sabha seats in 2019, he said.

When asked how the party is confident of forming a government this time, as they got only seven per cent in the last assembly elections, Mr Reddy said both Congress, which ruled for 10 years before the formation of Telangana and Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao-led BRS governments failed in fulfilling the aspirations of the people.

According to him, farmers, women, students, youth and even government employees are fed up with the present dispensation and the BJP is the only party which had put up a fight for their respective causes.

On the Congress allegation that BRS is a “B Team” of BJP, Mr Reddy termed it “pot calling the kettle black” and said it was those parties which fought elections in coalition and shared power earlier.

Continuing the tirade against the BRS and Congress, he said the former also supported the opposition candidate (Yashwant Sinha) in the last Presidential elections.

Replying to a query about some big BJP leaders leaving the party ahead of the polls, Mr Reddy said, “They have left for personal reasons, but the party will not lose anything. The BJP is a cadre-based and ideology-based party”.

Mr Reddy categorically said the BJP will make a Backward Community leader CM of Telangana as the party is committed to fulfilling the aspirations of BCs who comprise 55 per cent of the state’s population.

The BJP chief said there was a lot of discussion that took place between Modi and other senior cabinet colleagues before the PM’s statement on setting up a committee on empowering “Madigas” (a SC community), with regard to their demand for categorisation of Scheduled Castes.

Madigas are one of the biggest constituents of Scheduled Castes in the Telugu states of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.

Speaking at a rally organised by the Madiga Reservation Porata Samithi (MRPS) on Saturday, the prime minister said the Centre would soon form a committee which would adopt all possible ways for empowering them with regard to their demand for categorisation of Scheduled Castes.

Days after Diwali, people of the country will celebrate another major festival called Chhath. It is observed with extra fervour in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand and West Bengal. The festival falls on the sixth day of the Hindu lunar month of Kartika and is celebrated for four days. However, the dates can change based on the movement of the moon on which the lunar calendar is based. Accordingly, this year, the Chhath Puja festival will begin on November 17 (Friday) and continue till November 20.

How is Chhath celebrated?

Chhath is dedicated to the worship of Sun, the ultimate source of energy and life. The festival begins with Nahay Khay (bathing and feasting), where participants take a ritualistic bath and consume a simple meal. The subsequent day, Kharna, involves fasting throughout the day, breaking it only after sunset as an offering to the deities.

On the third day, the main rituals take place. Devotees, usually women, gather at the water bodies, be it rivers or ponds, before sunrise. Standing waist-deep in water, they offer arghya (offering of water) to the rising Sun, chanting hymns and prayers. This unique aspect of Chhath Puja symbolises purity, self-discipline, and the continuity of life. The setting sun witnesses another round of arghya, this time bidding farewell to the day.

Significance of Chhath Puja

Chhath Puja is marked by a profound connection between nature and spirituality. The environmental aspects of the festival, such as standing in water and using natural elements like sugarcane and banana leaves, underscore the harmony that devotees seek with the environment. The festival fosters a sense of community as families and neighbourhoods come together to perform rituals, share meals, and exchange blessings.

Chhath Puja, with its rich traditions, also encapsulates the essence of gratitude, discipline and the eternal cycle of life. As the sun sets on the final day of celebrations, it leaves behind a sense of spiritual fulfilment and community bonding that continues till the next year’s observance.