Baby delivered from dead woman’s womb

A Palestinian doctor treats three-day-old Shayma Shiekh al-Eid, who was born by Caesarean section after her mother was killed by shrapnel from an airstrike in the Gaza Strip. Picture: Eyad Baba

A Palestinian doctor treats three-day-old Shayma Shiekh al-Eid, who was born by Caesarean section after her mother was killed by shrapnel from an airstrike in the Gaza Strip. Picture: Eyad Baba

Published Jul 29, 2014

Share

London - Doctors have hailed a “miracle” baby girl who was delivered from the womb of a Palestinian woman killed in an Israeli airstrike.

The premature baby girl was delivered by emergency Caesarean section after her mother was killed in the airstrike, it was reported.

Dr Fadi Al-Khrote has described the baby girl’s survival as a miracle.

Shayma Shiekh al-Eid, named after her mother by her family, remained in an incubator at a hospital in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, over the weekend.

Khrote told Al Jazeera that he believed “what’s happened is a miracle”.

According to the BBC, the little girl has a 50/50 chance of survival.

A four-year-old child was one of two people killed by Israeli tank fire in Gaza on Monday, medics said, hiking the Palestinian death toll from Israel’s 21-day operation to 1 037.

According to emergency services spokesman Ashraf al-Qudra, four-year-old Samih Ijneid was killed when a shell hit a house to the east of Jabaliya where clashes had recently erupted between Israeli troops and Hamas militants.

The shelling also killed a second person in the same area, he said.

The deadly shelling came as both sides observed an unofficial lull in the fighting as Muslims began marking the first day of the Eid-al-Fitr holiday.

Earlier on Monday, another three people succumbed to their injuries, raising the day’s toll to five, Qudra said.

More than 6 200 Palestinians have been injured in the violence which began with an intensive air campaign on July 8 and expanded when Israel sent ground troops into the Gaza periphery on July 17.

Figures released on Sunday by the UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs give a figure of 999 dead, including at least 760 civilians, among them 226 children.

Of the 6 233 injured, 1 949 were children, it said.

The agency also said 215 000 Palestinians had been internally displaced by the fighting, with the UN agency for refugees saying 170 461 of them had taken refuge in 82 of its shelters.

The rest were staying with relatives or friends.

The conflict has also cost the lives of 43 Israeli soldiers, all of whom were killed since the ground operation began, as well as two civilians and a Thai agricultural worker who were killed by rocket fire.

Since Israel began Operation Protective Edge on July 8, the army said it had attacked 3 870 targets in Gaza, and militants had fired approximately 2 000 rockets which hit Israel, with around 500 shot down by its missile defence system, Iron Dome.

On Tuesday, only one rocket struck Israel, hitting the southern city of Ashkelon without causing injury or damage, a military spokeswoman said. – Daily Mail and Sapa-AFP

Cape Argus

Related Topics: