A Palestinian medic cares for premature babies evacuated from Al Shifa hospital to the Emirates hospital in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, on Sunday. Agence France-Presse

WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said 31 "very sick" babies were moved in a joint operation with staff from the UN and the Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PCRS), which used six ambulances in the transfer.

The babies were taken to the Al Helal Emirati maternity hospital, he wrote on X.

"They are receiving urgent care in the neonatal intensive care unit," he added.

A reporter saw the tiny infants at the hospital, some three or four to a cot, being bottle-fed by nurses and tended to by doctors in surgical scrubs.

"Further missions are being planned to urgently transport remaining patients and staff out of Al-Shifa Hospital, pending guarantees of safe passage by parties to the conflict," said Tedros.

Alongside the babies, six health workers and 10 staff family members were also moved, he added. 

“Further missions are being planned to urgently transport remaining patients and health staff out of Al Shifa Hospital, pending guarantees of safe passage by parties to the conflict.

“We’re deeply moved and impressed by the extraordinary bravery and service of the health workers in Gaza, who continue to serve under the most dire and difficult circumstances.

“We are grateful for the collaboration with Palestine Red Crescent, UN, and other partners.”

Israel said Saturday its military was "expanding its operational activities in additional neighbourhoods... of the Gaza Strip" where the United Nations says some 1.6 million people have been internally displaced by weeks of fighting.

Three Israeli soldiers were killed Saturday in fighting in northern Gaza, the military said, raising the number of troop deaths to 62 since the war began.

The narrow coastal territory, under a crippling blockade since Hamas took power in 2007, has been under Israeli siege since the war erupted, leaving food, water, medicine and fuel in short supply.

The fighting has rendered more than half of Gaza's 36 hospitals non-functioning by shortages, combat or damage, the UN has said.

Agencies