Please register to access this content.
To continue viewing the content you love, please sign in or create a new account
Dismiss
This content is for our paying subscribers only

World Mena

Israel-Hamas war: Gaza hospital says newborn saved from dead mother's womb

Doctors staged an emergency cesarean section and saved the baby



Baby Malek Yasine, who was reportedly delivered by Cesarean section after his 9-months pregnant mother succumbed to her injuries sustained during an overnight Israeli strike on Nusseirat in the central Gaza Strip, is caressed by his grandfather as he lies in an incubator at the Al Awda hospital in Deir El Balah on July 20, 2024.
Image Credit: AFP

Gaza Strip: A Gaza hospital said Saturday it saved a baby boy from his mother's womb after she died from wounds sustained in an Israeli strike.

Ola Adnan Harb Al Kurd, who was nine months pregnant, barely survived a punishing night of missile strikes that rescue services across the Hamas-run territory said killed more than 24 people, including six members of the same family.

But by the time Kurd reached Al Awda Hospital, she was "almost dead", according to surgeon Akram Hussein.

Click here to get exclusive content with Gulf News WhatsApp channel

Doctors were unable to save the mother, but performed an ultrasound that detected the baby's heartbeat.

Advertisement

They quickly staged an emergency cesarean section "and extracted the fetus," the surgeon told AFP.

The newborn, named Malek Yasine, was initially in critical condition, but after receiving oxygen and medical attention was stabilised, said Raed Al Saudi, head of the hospital's obstetrics and gynaecology department.

He was placed in an incubator and transferred to Al Aqsa Hospital in Deir El Balah.

read more

Kurd was among three women and a child killed by an Israeli missile fired on the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, according to a medical official at Al Awda Hospital. Her husband was also wounded in the strike on the family home.

Advertisement

Israel has not confirmed individual strikes, but a military statement said troops were "conducting targeted raids on terrorist infrastructure sites" in central Gaza.

Stepping up offensive

Israel has stepped up its offensive in several parts of the territory in line with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's order to increase pressure on Hamas following the Palestinian militants' attacks on southern Israel on October 7.

One man was killed in a drone hit while riding a bicycle on a street near the southern city of Khan Yunis, the Palestinian Red Crescent said.

Air strikes on two homes in Gaza City in the north each left six dead, according to the civil defence agency and paramedics.

Israel's military statement said "troops eliminated a number of terrorists in several different encounters" and had launched an operation on the Tal Al Sultan refugee camp near the southern city of Rafah.

Advertisement

Perils of childbirth

The war in Gaza has made childbirth increasingly perilous, with pregnant women facing not only near-daily strikes that hamper access to health facilities, but also widespread food insecurity, degrading sanitary conditions and water scarcity.

The few hospitals that are still working have been stretched to breaking point, according to humanitarian groups.

Pre-term deliveries and maternal complications, including eclampsia, haemorrhage and sepsis, have been rising, Doctors Without Borders said this week.

Advertisement