Palestinian mother endures difficult life in Gaza with her newborn triplets in tent

By Hosni Nadim

GAZA CITY, Palestine (AA) - Palestinian mothers in the Gaza Strip are experiencing exceptionally harsh life conditions under the ongoing devastating Israeli onslaught against the Gaza Strip, which has been taking place since Oct. 7.

While women across the world celebrate International Women's Day, Palestinian women, and in particular mothers, are struggling with their lives in the lack of all basic items for themselves and their children.

On the occasion of the world event, young mother Rawand Mushtaha, 20, tells Anadolu about what she had gone through in the past months of the war in Gaza.

Rawand, while still pregnant with three babies, was forced to move from her Shejaiya neighborhood in eastern Gaza City to the southern part of the Gaza Strip to escape the deadly Israeli assaults.

She gave birth to her triplets in the Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis, southern the Gaza Strip.

- Journey of displacement

"I was forced to flee Gaza City as all its hospitals went out of service, especially the maternity departments, as my newborn babies will require to be placed in incubators until their health situation stabilizes," Rawand said.

While giving birth to her babies, she was supposed to have general anesthesia, but due to the lack of medical materials, the doctors conducted her birth surgery with partial anesthesia.

Shortly after having her newborn triplets, she received the news that 50 members of her husband's family were killed in an Israeli airstrike, including her husband's mother and two sisters.

After the incident, they decided to name the new female babies after their grandmother and two aunts; Suhad, Huda and Nada, Rawand told Anadolu reporter.

But still, her suffering didn't stop as the Israeli military ground operation started to move in the southern part of the Gaza Strip and in Khan Younis in particular.

She added that again she and her husband found themselves under the Israeli fire and were forced to move to the central area of the Gaza Strip in Deir al-Balah city, and now with their newborn triplets.

"The displacement journey this time was very difficult with the three babies, where the Israeli army raided the [Nasser] hospital and forced them to get out in the middle of the night," young mother Rawand said.

- A small tent

Rawand and her little family found themselves in a tent in Deir al-Balah, lacking everything she needed to take care of her babies.

"We are living in a small tent with a difficult atmosphere. It is very cold at night and very hot during the day," she said, adding that such fluctuation in temperature causes her babies to get sick.

"This tent is not suitable for a breastfeeding mother, and for newborn babies; it lacks the essentials for life, especially water and food," Rawand Mushtaha added.

She noted that they are struggling to bring milk and diapers for the babies, as their prices are very high, making them unable to afford them.
Rawand concluded as saying that she hopes to return back to her home in Gaza City and raise her children in a place far from death and destruction.

Israel has waged a deadly military offensive on the Gaza Strip since an Oct. 7 attack by Hamas, which Tel Aviv said killed nearly 1,200 people.

More than 30,800 Palestinians have since been killed and over 72,000 others injured amid mass destruction and shortages of necessities.

The Israeli war has pushed 85% of Gaza's population into internal displacement amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicine, while 60% of the enclave's infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice (ICJ). An interim ruling in January ordered Tel Aviv to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.

*Writing by Ahmed Asmar