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Eleven toddlers who were evacuated as premature babies returned to the Gaza Strip on March 30, after a harsh journey that began in November 2023, when they were forced to leave the enclave during Israel’s first two-week siege on Al-Shifa Hospital.
Many of the families reuniting with their children on Monday had no idea of their children’s fate once they left Gaza, with no updates even confirming their survival.
Israel’s 2023 siege and bombing campaign of the area surrounding the hospital cut off power and key medical supplies. Several newborns were killed after power to the facility’s backup generator was cut off, a doctor said at the time.
Under those dire humanitarian and medical conditions, United Nations agencies relocated 31 premature babies from Al-Shifa, with 28 eventually evacuated to Egypt. Dr. Ahmad Al-Farra, an obstetrics specialist at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, told Prism that the evacuation process was extremely difficult and carried out through primitive means due to a lack of resources.
On Monday at Nasser Hospital, the toddlers met their families in tearful reunions for the first time after two years.
Heba Saleh, whose daughter Azhar was evacuated to Egypt at the age of 2 months, said that she feared this moment as much as she longed for it. “I was afraid that my daughter would not accept me, or that she would be afraid of me because she had never known me before,” she said.
This concern was shared by other families, who realized that rebuilding their relationships with their children would take time after years of forced separation. Nevertheless, the first embrace was enough to break part of this barrier and open the door to hope for a new beginning, parents said.
Families endured long periods of anxiety, waiting, and hope that never faded. From the moment of evacuation, international organizations attempted to contact the families of the infants to inform them that their children were still alive and receiving care in Egypt. However, the near-total communications blackout inside the Gaza Strip made it difficult, if not impossible, to reach them.
Rawan Al-Wadiya, who said international organizations were unable to reach her to tell her her daughter Sham was alive, said that this period was among the most difficult in her life. She lived between hope and fear without any certainty.
I watched her grow only through pictures, and I could not hear her voice or let her know me.Heba Saleh, mother of premature baby evacuated to Egypt
Saleh said that her husband was with Azhar in Egypt and would send her photos regularly, but she was unable to communicate with her over the phone or video call. “I watched her grow only through pictures, and I could not hear her voice or let her know me,” Saleh said.
In another case, Eman Abu Warda did not learn that her child Joud was still alive until nine months after his evacuation, when she found out that he was staying in an orphanage in Egypt. “I felt great joy when I learned that my child was alive, but that joy was mixed with sorrow for everything that had passed,” she told Prism.
Not all families’ joy was complete. Some parents had died while waiting to be reunited with their children. Ahmed Al-Harsh said he believed both his wife and child died after their home was bombed in October 2023. He later discovered that his child was evacuated to Egypt after being born nearly two months premature. His wife died after childbirth as a result of her injuries.
“My son is the only one left to me from my family; I lost everyone due to the bombing,” Al-Harsh said. He said the hardest moment was when his child did not recognize him. He also expressed fear of the day when his son might ask him about his mother.
The mother of another child returned to Gaza, Ibrahim, died a month after his birth; she had dealt with severe depression caused by her belief that he had died. Ibrahim’s grandmother, Um Jabr Badr, said she felt great joy when she learned that he was still alive, and she awaited getting to meet him.
Al-Shifa Hospital fell under Israeli siege twice, first in 2023 and then again in May 2024 for another two weeks. Imad Mondher, a nurse at the hospital, said he was trapped during the first siege with three other nurses in the pediatric nursery section along with 40 infants.
They cared for the babies and provided them with medical treatment. He said that 10 newborns were killed inside the nursery after the generator that supplied oxygen and powered ventilators was bombed.
Mondher added that the three nurses who were with him were evacuated with the children to Egypt, while he himself was denied evacuation by the occupation authorities because he had lost his personal ID.
He told Prism that the children’s health had been in a critical condition and they urgently needed treatment, He added that the occupation deliberately targeted electricity generators and oxygen supplies.
Families longing to reunite with their children endured a painful period of waiting. While Sundus Al-Kurd was separated from her daughter Bisan, she followed news reports about the deaths of premature infants due to power outages or oxygen shortages in Gaza’s hospitals, which caused her to live in a continuous state of anxiety.
“I would look at the photos of infants who had passed away and try to feel what motherhood is like, wondering whether this was my child or not,” she said. The fear intensified with every report of deteriorating health conditions inside hospitals.
Despite this, she held on to hope until she confirmed that her daughter was alive in Egypt, beginning a long wait for reunion that finally ended with her return to Gaza. Al-Kurd bought a traditional Palestinian dress for her daughter in an attempt to make up for part of the long absence.
Editorial Team:
Sahar Fatima, Lead Editor
Lara Witt, Top Editor
Stephanie Harris, Copy Editor
Ohood Nassar, 23, from the northern Gaza Strip, is a teacher and writer. She contributes to We Are Not Numbers, Electronic Intifada, Institute for Palestine Studies, and The New Arab. She graduated with honors in Basic Education from the Faculty of Education during the war.
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