Gaza baby triplets survive nightmare birth in warzone as starvation rages
Born in the world's most dangerous of birthplaces these tiny miracle warzone triplets offer a glimmer of hope amid the horrors of the Gaza war. Children die every day in the conflict-battered Strip but little girls Israa, Ayla and Aylol, despite being born underweight, are surviving. Just beyond their shelter the death toll in the Palestinian Strip is soaring towards the bloody milestone of 60,000, with 59,587 killed - another 62 dead on Thursday.
This family is still in danger and loving mother Alaa, 31, says she was terrified of losing her girls as she and her husband fought to bring them into the world. She says: 'There were nights I went to sleep crying, not knowing if my daughters would still be alive in the morning or die. Two of my cousins had miscarriages this year – one lost her baby in the eighth month. I was sure I'd be next.'
Alaa and her family – her husband Louay, 36, and their two children, 7-year-old Alma and 2-year-old Ahmed – have been displaced forcibly three times by the relentless Israeli bombing and military orders. Their neighbour's house was bombed, so Alaa, heavily pregnant with her girls and her family fled.
She said: 'We ran in silence. I held my stomach with both hands and prayed my babies wouldn't slip away while I escaped death.' Alaa and her family found shelter in an overcrowded school building.
Inside, there was hardly any food, no clean water and no medical care and she became increasingly malnourished, her hemoglobin plummeting to dangerously low levels. Despite the horrors, an Islamic Relief project to provide pregnant women with maternal care delivered the triplet girls – all born underweight but alive.
Now their mother says: 'They are my miracle. My proof that even in war, life insists on being born.' During one of the checkups, doctors told Alaa she needed an emergency caesarean section. Alaa and her family couldn't afford it so Islamic Relief covered the costs, as well as the cost of the emergency blood transfusions.
She says, 'I lost a lot of blood. I could feel myself fading. But I heard a cry from one of my daughters. That cry brought me back. Without this project I wouldn't be here, and neither would they. This wasn't just a medical intervention, it was a rescue mission for four lives.'
The triplets, born in April were premature and underweight at 3.9lbs. They are now relatively healthy but remain at risk from the dangers that face all babies and children in Gaza.
Alaa has received regular check-ups, blood tests, vitamins and ultrasound scans at Al Awda hospital, where Islamic Relief has previously provided vital equipment such as incubators that are still being used now. New incubators are among the many medical supplies that are now effectively banned under the Israeli blockade – as well as other vital maternal care equipment such as ultrasound devices and oxygen pumps, and fuel to keep hospital services running.
Most pregnant women in Gaza are now unable to get any pre- or post-natal checks. Medics at hospitals like Al Awda are risking their lives to keep services going. The Israeli onslaught has killed more than 1500 health workers and forced two thirds of primary healthcare centres and half of all hospitals to completely shut down.
The rest struggle to keep even partial services functioning. Al Awda has been besieged and hit by Israeli bombs dozens of times, injuring staff and patients and destroying medical supplies and storage facilities. Alaa says that despite the extreme challenges she was treated with care and dignity.
She says: 'The medics didn't just ask about my babies, they cared about me. They reminded me that my life matters too.' Child malnutrition is rocketing, with Israel accused of allowing the starvation, blocking humanitarian aid.
Meat, fruit, eggs and dairy products are near-impossible to find, while the scarcity of vegetables means that prices are up to 15 times more expensive than before the crisis, at a time when few people have jobs or access to cash. Israeli attacks have destroyed Gaza's ability to feed itself, with most agricultural land, greenhouses and fishing boats destroyed and most cattle killed.
This has left all civilians in Gaza reliant on humanitarian aid, but hardly any has been allowed to enter since 2 March. A recent survey of 43 aid agencies in Gaza found that 95% have been forced to reduce or suspend activities due to the total closure and the relentless indiscriminate bombing that has killed thousands and targeted hospitals and shelters.
The Israeli assault on Hamas followed the appalling slaughter of almost 1,200 when Hamas broke out of the Palestinian Strip, along with Islamic Jihad gunmen and went on a killing spree in southern Israel October 7 2023. During the atrocity that shocked the world they kidnapped 251 people, at least 51 of them still held in the Strip although only 20 are believed still to be alive.
Now Israel and Hamas are negotiating a shaky 60 day ceasefire, although it is thought that proposal is not imminently going to be settled. And Israel is under increasing pressure to stop the war as Gaza is under threat of famine with more than 100 people now dead from starvation, according to reports.
Hundreds of thousands of families are now forced into just 12% of Gaza's territory, with children at greatest risk as diseases spread amid the overcrowding. Israel's assault and blockade have turned Gaza into the worst place in the world to give birth. Dozens of babies and infants have starved to death.
Pregnant women are now too malnourished to stand, and even doctors are facing starvation. The Israeli blockade has cut off essential supplies, forcing pregnant women to undergo operations without anaesthetics. Nurses have to squeeze three or four babies into a single incubator. Doctors also report a huge increase in miscarriages. As many as 28 children are now dying every day they claim.
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