doctors deliver a baby rescued from the mother’s dying body

“Feat”: in the devastated Gaza Strip where the victims of war are piling up, Palestinian doctors are pleased to have delivered a baby by caesarean section whose injured mother was dying.

This one, Sabreen al-Sakani, arrived dead in the emergency room, seriously injured in the head and abdomen in an Israeli airstrike that hit the family home, east of Rafah, witnesses said.

“It was a miracle that she was still alive, despite her breathing difficulties,” explained Sahib al-Hams, a surgeon and director of the Kuwaiti Specialist Hospital in Rafah (south).

During the examination of this woman, the medical teams at this hospital noticed that she was pregnant and decided to perform a caesarean section without delay, despite the impossibility of anesthesia.

“The mother died ten minutes later,” Dr al-Hams said, adding that the baby’s father and sister arrived at the hospital dead.

At least 19 people were killed in the attack that hit this house, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health.

The newborn was transferred to the pediatric unit of the UAE Field Hospital.

“We quickly placed her in an incubator, put her on oxygen and treated her with antibiotics,” explains Haidar Abu Snimeh, the manager of this structure launched in December 2023 in response to the humanitarian crisis in the Palestinian coastal territory.

“Saved from the Mother’s Womb”

As reported by the hospital, the condition of the baby is stable as of Tuesday morning. Many local media reported her story, and some specify that she weighed less than two kilograms or that her mother was 30 weeks pregnant, in the seventh month of her pregnancy.

Her paternal uncle, Rami al-Sheikh, explained to AFP that he will take care of the little orphan when she leaves the hospital.

“I’m ready to give her my life,” he declared, explaining that he named her Sabrin-Rouh, a name made up of his mother’s name and the name his older sister and his father wanted to give him. and which can be translated as +the soul of Sabreen+.

“My brother’s daughter was rescued from her mother’s womb,” he added, explaining that only “civilians” were in the bombed-out family home. “My brother was torn to pieces, I appeal to the whole world to save us from this genocide.” Israel has always denied this accusation.

“The fact that this girl was born alive, despite the circumstances, is a feat,” comments Dr. Abu Snimeh, recalling that when a pregnant woman has breathing problems, the fetus lacks oxygen, which can hinder its development.

Pictures of the birth were widely circulated on Monday. They were filmed by Palestinian journalists, and Israeli authorities have not allowed international press into the Gaza Strip since the start of their massive military offensive more than six months ago.

“Martyr’s Baby”

These “images of a premature baby taken out of his dying mother’s womb, two neighboring houses where 15 children and five women were killed, this goes beyond war,” said UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk.

Since the beginning of the war, several similar births on a spit have been recorded. On October 21, Makkah Abu Chamala was born by caesarean section after her mother was seriously injured in an airstrike on her building in Rafah.

On the identification sticker pasted on the incubator, we could read: “Baby of Martyr Dareen Abou Chamalah”.

Israel’s genocidal war against the Palestinians has so far killed 34,183 people, including more than 18,000 children and more than 13,000 women.

The continuous bombing left a large part of the territory in ruins.

1.5 million Palestinians, most of them displaced, are gathered in Rafah and live under the threat of an Israeli military offensive. (What about AFP)