Central Gaza Strip – When Noor Reyhan gave start to her child boy, the 20-year-old had no concept it could be the primary and final time she would see him for 2 months.
Noor had gone into labour eight months into her being pregnant and gave start on October 6 at al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza Metropolis.
“As a result of he was untimely, I didn’t have the possibility to see him,” Noor stated. “The docs took him instantly to place him in an incubator. I solely have a photograph of him.”
The following day, all hell broke unfastened. Israeli forces bombarded northern Gaza indiscriminately, a couple of hours after Hamas fighters attacked military outposts and Israeli cities simply outdoors the strip.
Dwelling within the northern city of Beit Lahiya, Noor and her husband, Huthaifa Marouf, knew from earlier Israeli offensives that their space can be focused. So that they left their dwelling and took refuge at a college within the Nuseirat refugee camp, the place Noor couldn’t even discover a mattress and as an alternative slept on a blanket on a chilly classroom ground with 40 different individuals.
“We have now been displaced for the reason that starting,” Noor stated. “Our home was destroyed within the first week after the Israelis focused our neighbourhood. Even earlier than I turned pregnant, we had ready the nursery room in our dwelling. That’s all gone now.”
The brand new dad and mom tried to take their child with them however had been instructed they’d be risking his life. Moreover, kin and docs instructed them that, in keeping with the foundations of battle, a hospital can be the most secure place.
They named their son Ayman – which suggests blessed, righteous or fortunate – weeks after he was born. For the following a number of weeks, they wouldn’t know if he was even alive.
Infants left behind
Within the second week of November, Israeli forces besieged al-Shifa Hospital. Over the course of a number of days, the hospital was focused a number of occasions, terrorising 1000’s of displaced households sheltering there and forcing them to depart.
Among the many dozens of untimely infants within the hospital had been Ayman and twin ladies Rateel and Raseel. In contrast to Noor and Huthaifa, Sawsan Abu Odeh, the mom of Rateel and Raseel, was sheltering in al-Shifa. However because the bombardment of the hospital intensified, the 20-year-old needed to go away.
![Rateel and Raseel Abu Odeh were born on October 13 at al-Shifa Hospital](https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/DSC03630-1702391060.jpg?w=770&resize=770%2C514)
“That was the day the Israelis threw leaflets telling individuals to go south,” Sawsan stated. “I noticed them [the twins] on daily basis for a month and would pump milk to present to them, however I couldn’t maintain them.”
Every week earlier when the fifth-floor maternity ward of the hospital was hit by an air strike, Sawsan instructed the physician on the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) that she wished to take her twins out of the incubators and head south.
“He stated it was too harmful to maneuver them and that they’d die if I took them with me as a result of they had been nonetheless taking vitamin intravenously,” she stated. “He identified that the gunpowder within the air and the mud and filth normally would influence their well being much more and guaranteed me that the most secure place for them was the hospital.”
As they talked, the hospital grounds subsequent to the NICU had been bombed. The physician took his spouse and kids, who had been staying with him within the hospital, and fled.
The following day, Sawsan and her father, Khaled, had been coming again to the hospital after going to the market to purchase garments for the twins. As they made their approach in the direction of the doorway gate, an Israeli missile struck it.
“A person just a few metres away from me was injured in his leg – there was a giant chunk lacking,” Sawsan stated. “One other man near us was wounded in his shoulder. My father grabbed me, and we fled from the hospital.”
The younger mom was hysterical. She had given start just some weeks earlier than with some problems and now discovered herself on the highway resulting in the southern Gaza Strip with 1000’s of different individuals.
“I stored stopping and crying and instructed my household that I didn’t need to go on, that they need to proceed with out me,” she stated. “We handed by the troopers and their tanks and noticed many our bodies mendacity on the highway. One of many our bodies was burned black, and I noticed two decomposing our bodies in an deserted automobile as nicely.”
Her mom flagged down a donkey cart and put her daughter on it till they reached the Maghazi refugee camp, the place as soon as once more they took shelter in one other college.
“It was horrible,” Sawsan stated. “The loos had been filthy. There was no meals. I wasn’t in state, and I blamed my dad for making me abandon my infants.”
As she spoke, her father, Khaled, let loose a tragic chuckle.
After they arrived at Maghazi, fearful about his daughter’s mind-set, he set about asking round for information of the untimely infants left at al-Shifa Hospital.
![Sawsan Abu Odeh and her father Khaled sit outside Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital waiting for ambulance to take her to the Rafah border crossing](https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/DSC03617-1702391224.jpg?w=770&resize=770%2C528)
“For weeks, we had no concept the place the ladies had been,” he stated. “We known as each hospital, however they gave us conflicting information. Some stated they had been taken to an Israeli hospital, others to the hospital in Ramallah.”
Sawsan’s concern intensified after stories emerged that a number of of the untimely infants on the hospital had died.
She obtained in contact with the ambulance companies, who referred her to the Pink Crescent. It instructed her to contact the Pink Cross, which ultimately referred her alongside to the Ministry of Well being in Gaza. After many makes an attempt due to the dangerous cellphone traces, she additionally tried to get in contact with a physician who had been within the NICU on the time that the Israeli forces raided the hospital.
“He instructed me that after they had been compelled out of the hospital, they didn’t have time to take the recordsdata of the untimely infants with them,” she stated. “However he assured me that the ladies had been alive and high quality and had been taken to Egypt.”
‘He was emaciated’
Noor and Huthaifa have additionally been on an emotional rollercoaster journey since they had been compelled to flee northern Gaza. They’d misplaced their dwelling and didn’t know if Ayman was even alive.
“He was a couple of month previous when the Israelis besieged al-Shifa Hospital, and I couldn’t see him and even be near him,” Noor stated, describing how she awoke on daily basis pondering her child’s final day on Earth had come. “My postpartum despair was at its peak, my psychological well being plummeting, and I used to be scared by the battle, fearful of my household getting killed, scared for my youngster who I couldn’t even see or maintain.”
When Israeli forces stormed the hospital, Noor misplaced all hope. Israeli troopers ordered the docs, sufferers and displaced individuals to evacuate the medical compound, forcing some to depart at gunpoint.
When she heard stories that among the untimely infants had died, she cried nonstop.
Then a glimmer of hope emerged. On November 19, there was information that 31 of the 39 untimely infants had been being transferred to the Emirati Hospital within the southern metropolis of Rafah.
Huthaifa made his solution to the coastal Rashid Avenue as rain, bullets and missiles thundered on, hoping to catch the convoy of ambulances. His father-in-law travelled to Rafah and some hours later, Huthaifa met him in entrance of the hospital entrance. Among the dad and mom of the opposite untimely infants had additionally gathered there, and after a lot negotiating with the hospital workers, they made their approach in.
However Huthaifa was not ready for the horrible situation of the infants. He recognised his son considerably, figuring out he had no wrist or ankle band, assured by the title of Noor that was caught on a card on the incubator. However as he stared at his child, he gripped his head in anguish.
![Ayman Marouf, Noor and Huthaifa's baby boy, was in a starved condition on November 19 2023 after he was transferred from al-Shifa Hospital to the Emirati Hospital in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip [Suleiman al-Farra/Al Jazeera]](https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/DSC03522-1702391565.jpg?w=770&resize=770%2C514)
“He was emaciated,” Huthaifa, 24, stated, his eyes watery. “Pores and skin and bones. I instructed Noor on the cellphone he was alive and wholesome. However he regarded like he was in a famine.”
Ayman’s tiny ribcage was protruding from below his wrinkled pores and skin. His bony shoulders had been outstanding, his eyes giant and hole. However he was alive.
“I questioned about my son,” Huthaifa stated. “How did his tiny ears obtain the fixed bombardment? How did his small nostril scent the gasoline and gunpowder within the air?”
Ahmad Shatat, the physician answerable for the untimely infants on the Emirati Hospital in Rafah, instructed Al Jazeera that they’d all arrived in a malnourished state.
“The infants had intestinal issues, which lead to vomiting and diarrhoea, and fast heartbeats on account of their publicity to germs and infections,” he stated.
Shatat added that, though official figures are arduous to return by due to the battle, the variety of ladies giving start prematurely has risen sharply because of the results of battle and lack of correct care and eating regimen.
After listening to her son was alive, Noor wished to return to Rafah the identical night time, however Huthaifa satisfied her it was too harmful to journey and she or he ought to come very first thing the following morning. As he made his solution to the hospital the following day on November 20, he obtained beautiful information. The docs instructed him they’d transferred the babies to Egypt.
When Noor came upon, she broke down.
“Think about the sensation of a brand new mom lastly about to see her new child youngster who she hadn’t seen for a month and a half, solely to be instructed that he has been taken to a different nation,” she stated. “I cried and screamed and wailed, pondering my child was misplaced without end.”
![Sawsan Abu Odeh and Noor Reyhan bid farewell to Swan's father Khaled and Noor's husband Huthaifa from inside the ambulance that will take them to the Rafah border crossing](https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/DSC03739-1702391686.jpg?w=770&resize=770%2C514)
‘Alive and nicely’
The Well being Ministry added the names of Noor and Sawsan to a listing of pressing medical travellers. On December 5, they had been instructed their names had been on the record for journey, and so they each went to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir el-Balah, the place an ambulance was ready to take them to the Rafah border crossing.
Their hearts of their mouths, the moms took their seats subsequent to the driving force, every with a small bag in her lap.
“I’m very excited to see my ladies but in addition very anxious,” Sawsan stated. “It’s my first time travelling outdoors the Gaza Strip. I’m fearful of what may occur to them if I’m killed or if they’re kidnapped in Egypt.”
Khaled kissed her goodbye on the cheek. Subsequent to her, Noor hugged her blue bag, which was stuffed with child garments.
“It’s my coronary heart’s need to go together with Noor,” Huthaifa stated. “I’m glad I obtained to see him, although, and she or he will probably be over the moon, in fact.”
The following day, precisely two months after she gave start, Noor lastly held her child, Ayman, in her arms at El Arish Hospital in Egypt. She despatched images and movies to her husband and household, her smile by no means leaving her face.
“I used to be so scared I wouldn’t see my son due to the genocide,” she stated. “I hope the battle ends, and we each can return to Gaza.”
Sawsan needed to wait an additional day to see Rateel and Raseel after workers at El Arish Hospital instructed her that her ladies had been taken to a hospital in Cairo. As a result of it’s unlawful for Palestinians from Gaza to journey by Egypt with no visa, an ambulance was organized to take Sawsan on the six-hour journey by the Sinai desert to the capital.
“My ladies are alive and nicely,” she instructed Al Jazeera by cellphone from Cairo.