Condition of mother gunned down in terror attack improves, baby still critical
Hospital says Shira Ish-Ran no longer on respirator or sedated, communicating with those around her; injured husband doing well
Doctors have registered a further improvement in the condition of a woman who was shot in a terror attack this week, and whose baby was delivered by doctors in the wake of the attack, Jerusalem’s Shaare Zedek Medical Center said Wednesday.
However, Shira Ish-Ran’s newborn son remains in critical condition as doctors fight to keep him alive, the hospital said.
Ish-Ran was seriously hurt Sunday evening when terrorists in a passing car opened fire at Israeli civilians waiting at a bus stop and hitchhiking post outside the settlement of Ofra. Seven people were injured in all, including Ish-Ran’s husband, Amichai, who was moderately hurt.
“Shira’s condition further improved and she is stable,” the hospital said in a statement. “She is not on respirators and is not sedated. She is responding to her surroundings.”
“Amichai’s condition is good,” the statement added. “The condition of the baby continues to be critical.”
On Tuesday evening Amichai Ish-Ran entered his wife’s hospital room and saw her conscious for the first time since she awoke from her induced coma. Her baby had been delivered by emergency cesarean section at 30 weeks.
The couple smiled at each other and held hands, her father, Chaim Silberstein, told reporters. The young mother could not speak due to tubes in her throat at the time.
She reportedly has asked about her baby, but has not been told about his condition.
After the boy was delivered, he was immediately transferred to the ward for premature babies. Initially said to have been in “stable” condition, his condition worsened, the hospital said Monday. He was hooked up to a ventilator and has been undergoing treatment in the neonatal intensive care unit.
The military’s search for the perpetrators of the attack entered its fourth day on Wednesday, with troops setting up roadblocks and sweeping nearby Palestinian villages.
The Times of Israel Community.