Five premature babies have been found dead at a hospital in Gaza City during a pause in fighting between Israel and Hamas, the health ministry said, AFP reports.

Gaza health ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qudra told AFP that Israeli soldiers had blocked access to the intensive care unit at Al-Nasr paediatric facility, and doctors were finally “able to get into the ward on Tuesday night”.

There, Qudra said, “the occupation (Israeli) forces left five premature babies” who were found “partly decomposed”.

“The soldiers forbade the families from going near” the newborns before Tuesday, he said. The Israeli army said it was unable to immediately comment on the matter when contacted by AFP.