Gaza baby rescued from dead mother’s womb dies after five days in incubator

RAFAH, Gaza Strip — A baby girl who was delivered from her dying mother’s womb in a Gaza hospital following an Israeli airstrike has herself died after five days in an incubator, her uncle and the doctor who was caring for her said on Friday.

Sabreen al-Rouh died in a Gaza hospital on Thursday after her health deteriorated and medical teams were unable to save her, said her uncle, Rami al-Sheikh.

The baby suffered respiratory problems and a weak immune system, said Doctor Mohammad Salama, head of the emergency neonatal unit at Emirati Hospital, who had been caring for her. “I and other doctors tried to save her, but she died. For me personally, it was a very difficult and painful day,” he told Reuters by phone.

Sabreen’s home in the southern Gaza city of Rafah was hit by an Israeli airstrike shortly before midnight Saturday, witnesses told AFP. Her parents and 4-year-old sister were killed, news agencies reported.

First responders took the bodies to a nearby hospital, where medical workers performed an emergency cesarean section on her mother, Sabreen al-Sakani, who was 30 weeks pregnant.

Al-Sheikh told the AP that Sabreen was buried next to her father on Thursday.

“We were attached to this baby in a crazy way,” he said, speaking near Sabreen’s grave in a cemetery in Rafah.

“God had taken something from us, but given us something in return,” with the baby surviving after her family died, he said. “But [now] he has taken them all. My brother’s family is completely wiped out.”