By Enes Canli
JERUSALEM (AA) – Five premature babies born to three Palestinian women from the Gaza Strip have spent nearly a year growing up in an East Jerusalem hospital, separated from their mothers due to Israel's ongoing war on the coastal enclave.
The babies were born at Makassed Hospital in August and September 2023, but their mothers were forced to return to Gaza after their residency permits in East Jerusalem expired, and they were also unable to find accommodation.
The situation worsened after Israel launched intense attacks on Gaza on Oct. 7, 2023, leaving the newborns stranded in the hospital.
The infants, who are more than a year old, are being cared for by doctors, nurses, and social workers at Makassed Hospital, which serves patients from both the West Bank and Gaza, where health services are more limited.
- Best option to bring mothers to their children
Dr. Hatem Khammash, head of the neonatal unit at Makassed Hospital, told Anadolu that the five babies were born prematurely at the hospital about a year ago.
Dr. Khammash explained that after birth, the babies were transferred to the neonatal intensive care unit, while their mothers had to return to Gaza.
He noted that since the Gaza crossings were closed in Sept. 2023 due to Jewish holidays, and the subsequent relentless Israeli attacks that began on Oct. 7, the babies have grown up in the hospital away from their families.
"Some of them have medical issues that will resolve over time. The others just keep growing, and we keep caring for them, providing regular child care such as vaccination, feeding, and treatment.
“It's not a normal well-being development if they are separated from the mother, like orphans. They are not orphans, but they are growing up as orphans,” Dr. Khammash underlined.
Noting that volunteers and nurses assist them in caring for the babies, he said, "I'm not sure that it's going to be the same as the mother looking after them."
The doctor went on to say that sending the babies back to Gaza is not an option because of the ongoing war. "It's difficult to send them to Gaza right now. Gaza is not safe. There isn't any clean water. They may develop illnesses and not receive medical care because everything is lacking."
He believes that the best option is to bring back their mothers to the hospital and for that, wait for things to calm down in Gaza.
UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell, Oliver Owcza, the German representative to the Palestinian territories, and a World Health Organization representative have all visited the hospital, but Dr. Khammash claims that no concrete results have been achieved in terms of reuniting the babies with their mothers.
- Caring for babies as if they were their own
Hanan Al-Dyuok, the mother of triplet girls from those babies, has video calls with her babies thanks to the social workers at the hospital. Nurses and doctors say Henan became a mother for the first time after a six-year longing to have children.
Nabil Qasem, a social worker at the hospital, said the babies are cared for as if they were their own children, but he is concerned about their psychological development.
Qasem expressed concern over the babies' psychological development and said they try to fill this gap as much as possible as alternative mothers.
"We try to care for them by touching their skin, holding them, making eye contact. We play with them and observe their physical movements. We are in communication with their mothers, but our communication is occasionally cut off due to the conditions in Gaza," Qasem said.
Qasem said they try to have the babies communicate with their mothers via video calls, stressing that "the babies need to see their mothers' faces and recognize their voices, and we work to maintain the bond between them, but it's not normal or easy."
She said the mothers miss their babies and are concerned about them, and they try to comfort the mothers by assuring them that the babies are receiving the best possible care.
The biggest victims of the ongoing Israel's attacks on Gaza are once again children. According to data released by the Ministry of Health in Gaza, more than 16,500 of the over 40,500 deaths since Oct. 7 are children.
According to the Press Office of the Palestinian Government in Gaza, nearly 17,000 children in Gaza are living without one or both of their parents, and more than 120,000 babies require milk and baby formula.