'Heartbreaking to see': Gaza's premature babies fight for life in Egypt without mothers


Holly Johnston
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Premature babies evacuated from Gaza are fighting respiratory infections and malnutrition in Egyptian hospitals as their mothers remain in the besieged enclave, an official from the UN's Children's Fund has told The National.

Thirty-three infants were scheduled to be evacuated from Gaza's Al Shifa Hospital on Sunday. That number dropped to 31 with the death of two babies by the time a team co-ordinated by the UN arrived at the hospital. The team then undertook a perilous journey with the infants, who were wrapped in tin foil to keep them warm and driven several hours south without incubators, before reaching Rafah on the border with Egypt.

Twenty-nine babies have now been transferred to Egypt. Some of them are in a serious condition, having clung to life for the past six brutal weeks.

"It's heartbreaking to see these babies without the care that they should be getting," Unicef's Egypt representative Jeremy Hopkins told The National from Cairo.

"There are respiratory infections, malnutrition, and overall vulnerabilities which accompany premature babies," he said of their condition.

Eight babies, including a set of twins, have their mothers with them in Egypt, while the mother of another child is awaiting entry to Egypt at the Rafah border crossing.

"The children are split between Al Arish Hospital and Cairo. Some of those children are in particularly critical condition but others are more stable. They are getting the best possible care they can get."

The babies were born several weeks before or since the start of the most brutal war yet in Gaza, where more than 13,000 people have been killed. At least 6,000 people are said to be missing, presumed to be buried under the rubble of destroyed buildings.

Gaza's health ministry has published the names of the babies moved from Al Shifa.

One, who remains in Gaza's Emirati hospital - went unnamed, simply listed as arriving "after the bombing".

It is presumed the baby, who appeared in an October video from the health ministry, was the child rescued from his mother's womb as she succumbed to injuries sustained during an Israeli strike on her home.

A Palestinian mother holds her newborn baby, who was placed in an incubator after being evacuated from Al Shifa Hospital in Gaza city, as he is discharged from a hospital in Rafah. Reuters
A Palestinian mother holds her newborn baby, who was placed in an incubator after being evacuated from Al Shifa Hospital in Gaza city, as he is discharged from a hospital in Rafah. Reuters

Several mothers were able to briefly see their children at the Emirati Hospital in Rafah, where the babies were gently placed under thick blankets to stay warm while making their way to Egypt.

One woman was seen crying and warming her hands before caressing her baby, placed in an incubator with several other infants.

"I saw them for the first time today since I gave birth," Nour Al Bannah, mother of the twins, told the Associated Press.

"I did not expect to see them again," said Ayat Al Dour, from Gaza City.

"It was a difficult feeling, I felt fear coupled with joy. I missed them very much and wanted to hold them in my arms."

Palestinian medics prepare premature babies, evacuated from Gaza City's Al Shifa hospital, for transfer from a hospital in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip to Egypt. AFP
Palestinian medics prepare premature babies, evacuated from Gaza City's Al Shifa hospital, for transfer from a hospital in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip to Egypt. AFP

Unicef's family tracing teams in Gaza have undertaken taken painstaking work to track down parents and relatives of the babies left alone, some of whom are now orphans.

"It's an immediate cause for additional protection concerns. We need to ensure these babies are reunited with their families as soon as possible. That is an absolute right of every child," said Mr Hopkins, who said reunification efforts are "ongoing".

The representative praised the Egyptian health ministry for its work in assisting the babies, and says the UN continues to liaise with Cairo.

Doctors have said many parents have been unable to see their children since Israeli forces ordered civilians to evacuate south ahead of its raid on Al Shifa. Weeks later, all but nine of Gaza's hospitals are still operating - and there are more than 150 premature babies left in the enclave.

"The health system is under terrible pressure in Gaza, which has all but collapsed, but there are some healthcare and facilities functioning. There will be more babies born prematurely, there are babies born every day in Gaza, and possibly more are going to be born prematurely given the current situation," said Mr Hopkins.

Unicef executive director Catherine Russel visits a maternity ward in Gaza. Photo: Unicef
Unicef executive director Catherine Russel visits a maternity ward in Gaza. Photo: Unicef

Children of all ages have borne the brunt of the war in Gaza, with more than 5,600 killed in the enclave since October 7. Thousands more have been orphaned and wounded.

"The stories that I have heard have been horrific. Prior to this conflict, two thirds of children had some sort of mental health problem. Now we can safely assume that all children in Gaza have trauma and require psychosocial support," said Mr Hopkins.

"Some children are having nightmares, some children have stopped talking. Every day is a day lost for children."

"There are children who have been kidnapped that need to be returned. The killing in Gaza and across the region, in the West Bank, needs to stop. No child is going to be safe until we have an end to this."

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Conflict, drought, famine

Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.

Band Aid

Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.

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Courtesy: Crystal Intelligence

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Company: Justmop.com

Date started: December 2015

Founders: Kerem Kuyucu and Cagatay Ozcan

Sector: Technology and home services

Based: Jumeirah Lake Towers, Dubai

Size: 55 employees and 100,000 cleaning requests a month

Funding:  The company’s investors include Collective Spark, Faith Capital Holding, Oak Capital, VentureFriends, and 500 Startups. 

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Notable salonnières of the Middle East through history

Al Khasan (Okaz, Saudi Arabia)

Tamadir bint Amr Al Harith, known simply as Al Khasan, was a poet from Najd famed for elegies, earning great renown for the eulogy of her brothers Mu’awiyah and Sakhr, both killed in tribal wars. Although not a salonnière, this prestigious 7th century poet fostered a culture of literary criticism and could be found standing in the souq of Okaz and reciting her poetry, publicly pronouncing her views and inviting others to join in the debate on scholarship. She later converted to Islam.

 

Maryana Marrash (Aleppo)

A poet and writer, Marrash helped revive the tradition of the salon and was an active part of the Nadha movement, or Arab Renaissance. Born to an established family in Aleppo in Ottoman Syria in 1848, Marrash was educated at missionary schools in Aleppo and Beirut at a time when many women did not receive an education. After touring Europe, she began to host salons where writers played chess and cards, competed in the art of poetry, and discussed literature and politics. An accomplished singer and canon player, music and dancing were a part of these evenings.

 

Princess Nazil Fadil (Cairo)

Princess Nazil Fadil gathered religious, literary and political elite together at her Cairo palace, although she stopped short of inviting women. The princess, a niece of Khedive Ismail, believed that Egypt’s situation could only be solved through education and she donated her own property to help fund the first modern Egyptian University in Cairo.

 

Mayy Ziyadah (Cairo)

Ziyadah was the first to entertain both men and women at her Cairo salon, founded in 1913. The writer, poet, public speaker and critic, her writing explored language, religious identity, language, nationalism and hierarchy. Born in Nazareth, Palestine, to a Lebanese father and Palestinian mother, her salon was open to different social classes and earned comparisons with souq of where Al Khansa herself once recited.

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Updated: November 26, 2023, 8:53 AM`