A baby girl delivered from a Palestinian woman who was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Rafah on Saturday has now died, according to her family.
The baby survived for five days, but died at the Emirati field hospital on Thursday. Her death was confirmed by her uncle, who spoke with CBC News late in the day.
The infant was delivered by via emergency caesarean 10 weeks premature and weighing three pounds, nine ounces on Saturday, in the aftermath of an attack in the southern Gaza city.
The blast killed her mother, who had been 30 weeks pregnant, as well as her father and older sister.
The baby was buried on Thursday next to the family she never met, her uncle said.
The girl’s family had named her Sabreen, after her mother, with Roh as a second name. Meaning “soul” or “spirit” in Arabic, “Roh” was the name her sister had wanted for the new baby.
In interviews on Wednesday, doctors at the Emirati hospital in Rafah said they believed the baby had improved from after being born in grave condition. She had been supported by a ventilator known as a CPAP machine, which delivers oxygen to premature babies through small tubes in their noses.
Pregnant women and new mothers in Gaza have faced “extreme challenges” accessing health care since war broke out with Israel on Oct. 7, according to the United Nations. The organization said there were more than 155,000 new or expectant mothers in the strip as of April 4, with more than 5,000 due to deliver in the next month.
There are just three maternity hospitals remaining in the enclave, the UN said.
Israel has killed at least 34,305 Palestinians in the last few months of war, Gaza health authorities said on Thursday. Israel is retaliating against an Oct. 7 Hamas-led attack that killed some 1,200 people and saw around 253 taken hostage, according to Israeli tallies.
