Gaza doctors save unborn baby after mother is killed in Israeli bombing

Doctors in Gaza save an infant whose mother was killed in an Israeli attack while still pregnant in the southern city of Rafah. An urgent operation had to be performed on the dead mother to extract and rescue the baby, who has since survived but continues to require medical attention.

Palestinian health officials said that a baby girl was born from the womb of a Palestinian woman who was killed along with her husband and other daughter in an Israeli attack on the city of Rafah in the Gaza Strip in which 24 people were killed on Saturday night.

The officials added that the martyrs were killed after two homes were bombed, and that the victims included 13 children from one family.

Dr Mohammad Salama, the doctor caring for the newborn, said that the baby weighs just 1.4 kilogrammes and was born after an emergency caesarean section, noting that her condition is stable and gradually improving

He stated that her mother, Sabreen Al-Sakani, was 30 weeks pregnant.

The newborn is in an incubator in a hospital in Rafah and she has a tag on her which reads “Child of the Martyr Sabreen Al-Sakani.”

One of her relatives, Rami Al-Sheikh, said that Malak, Sabreen’s first daughter who was killed in the raid, wanted to name her sister “Rouh”.

“Her sister wanted to call her Rouh. Now Malak is gone, and she is an angel happy that her sister has entered this world.”

Dr Salama said that the child will remain in the hospital for three to four weeks, adding, “Then, God willing, we will see about discharging her. Where will she be discharged to? Does she have an aunt, uncle, grandfather, or grandmother? This is where the great tragedy lies. Even if this child lives, she is born an orphan.”

Palestinian health officials said that 13 children who were martyred in a raid were from the Abdel-Al family and that two women were also killed.

“Look, there is only one man among all of the martyrs. Show me a man who was martyred… they are all children and women. You saw with your own eyes; my entire identity has been erased,” Saqr Abdel-Al said while surrounded by the bodies of shrouded children killed in the attack.

Mohammad Al-Behairi said that his daughter and grandson are still under the rubble. “We feel sad and depressed. We have nothing left in this life to cry about. How else are we meant to feel? We’ve lost our children, the people dearest to us, and our loved ones. How would you feel? An entire nation died.”

READ: 190 bodies found in mass grave at hospital in Gaza’s Khan Yunis

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