Newborn rescued from dead mother’s womb after Israel attacked Gaza hospital

He was placed in an incubator and taken to Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir el-Balah.

Palestinian territories:

A hospital in the Gaza Strip announced on Saturday that it had rescued a baby boy from the womb after his mother died as a result of an Israeli attack.

Ola Adnan Harb al-Kurd, who was nine months pregnant, narrowly survived a difficult night of rocket attacks that killed more than 24 people, including six members of the same family, across Hamas-controlled territory, according to emergency services.

But when Kurd reached Al-Awda Hospital, she was “almost dead,” according to surgeon Akram Hussein.

Although the doctors were unable to save the mother, they were able to detect the baby’s heartbeat using ultrasound.

They quickly performed an emergency caesarean section “and took out the fetus,” the surgeon told AFP.

The newborn’s condition was initially critical but stabilized after oxygen and medical care were administered, said Raed al-Saudi, head of the hospital’s obstetrics and gynecology department.

He was placed in an incubator and taken to Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir el-Balah.

Kurd was one of three women and a child killed by an Israeli missile fired at the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, according to a medical worker at Al-Awda Hospital. Her husband was also injured in the attack on the family home.

Israel has not confirmed any individual attacks, but a military statement said troops were carrying out “targeted raids against terrorist infrastructure sites” in central Gaza.

Israel has stepped up its offensive in several parts of the territory, following Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s orders to increase pressure on Hamas following attacks by Palestinian militants on southern Israel on October 7.

A man was killed in a drone strike while cycling on a road near the southern city of Khan Yunis, the Palestinian Red Crescent said.

Air strikes on two houses in northern Gaza City killed six people each, according to civil defense officials and medics.

An Israeli military statement said troops had “eliminated a number of terrorists in several clashes” and launched an operation against the Tal al-Sultan refugee camp near the southern city of Rafah.

The war in Gaza has made childbirth increasingly dangerous. Pregnant women are not only faced with almost daily strikes that make access to health facilities difficult, but also with widespread food shortages, degrading hygiene conditions and a lack of water.

According to humanitarian organizations, the few hospitals that are still functioning are stretched to breaking point.

According to Doctors Without Borders, the number of premature births and maternal complications such as eclampsia, bleeding and sepsis has increased.

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