DISPLACED WOMAN IN GAZA GIVES BIRTH TO FOUR BABIES
Iman Al Masri walked 5km from her Beit Hanoun home to seek shelter while six months pregnant
A woman has given birth to quadruplets in a hospital in southern Gaza, several kilometres from her home in the north of the enclave.
Iman Al Masri fled Beit Hanoun on foot with her three children while six months pregnant, days after Israel began its military operation in Gaza.
Ms Al Masri, 28, walked 5km to the Jabalia refugee camp. She told The National she had sought refuge in Jabalia, but fearing strikes and attacks on the camp, was forced to search for a vehicle that would take them further south to Deir Al Balah.
“I reached Deir Al Balah and stayed in one of the UNRWA schools,” she said, referring to those run by the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, where thousands of Gazans have sought shelter as the conflict rages around them.
“I was in the beginning of my seventh month of pregnancy. I felt labour pains and was transferred to the hospital immediately,” she said.
Suffering from anaemia, she had to stay in hospital for four days.
She eventually underwent an emergency Caesarean section and gave birth to daughters Tia and Lynn and sons Yasser and Mohammed on December 18.
Ms Al Masri was soon asked to leave the hospital with three of the babies to make room for other patients injured in the war, but her son, Mohammed, was too fragile to go.
Now Ms Al Masri and her children, including Tia, Lynn and Yasser, live in a cramped classroom in Deir Al Balah with about 50 other members of their extended family.
“The place where I am staying is not a suitable place for a woman who has delivered four babies, with no suitable food, or furniture for me and the babies,” she said. Her sister-in-law,
Shorok Al Masri, stayed with her to help care for the babies. One of the girls needed special attention and breastfeeding because she suffered from jaundice, she told The National.
“The situation is so difficult for the babies and the mother,” Shorok Al Masri said.
“Their father can’t earn money now because there is no chance for work.”
The Gaza Strip, home to 2.4 million people, lies in ruins from the north to the south. According to UN estimates, the
fighting has displaced 1.9 million Palestinians. The war began on October 7 when Hamas, the militant group that governs the enclave, attacked southern Israel, resulting in the deaths
of about 1,200 people, mostly civilians. Palestinian militants also took about 240 hostages, 129 of whom remain in captivity, Israel has said.
Israel retaliated with a relentless campaign of bombardment and a siege of the enclave, followed by a ground operation that began on October 27.
The campaign has killed more than 21,100 people, about two thirds of them women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.
Ms Al Masri’s husband Ammar, 33, said he was devastated
because he cannot provide for his family.
“I feel helpless,” he said. “I fear for my children. I don’t know how to protect them.”
He spends most of his days outdoors searching for food, he added.
“Tia must be breastfed and my wife needs nutritious food that contains protein. The children need milk and diapers. But I cannot get any of that.”
There are an estimated 50,000 pregnant women in Gaza, with more than 180 giving birth every day, the UNRWA has said.
Al Masri underwent an emergency Caesarean section on December 18 and gave birth to two daughters and two sons