Exclusive:
The first child born at Save the Children’s new maternity unit in Gaza is lucky to be alive with baby Lana’s family forced to endure horrible conditions of deprivation under constant threat of bombing
Lovingly cradling her newborn baby, Tima looks like any mum experiencing a moment of maternal joy. But this heartwarming scene is all the more precious in a land of death.
Lana was the first baby to be born at Save the Children’s new maternity unit in war-torn Gaza. And Tima, 26 – who also has a son Hani, nearly two – knows just how lucky they are to both be alive after a night of terror during her pregnancy nearly wiped her family out.
Her message to other mothers across the world is: “Be grateful for what you have. Here we have nothing.”
Before the October attacks Tima was excitedly decorating a nursery for Lana at their home in Khan Younis after she and husband Omar discovered the good news in July. Then as war exploded into their lives they took in her parents, whose home had been destroyed.
Soon they all had to flee to Tima’s in-laws. Eventually the relentless Israeli attacks led to them sheltering in a greenhouse, enduring a terrifying night under fire. “It was the worst I’ve experienced,” said Tima. “There were strikes and shooting and everything was coming through the plastic of the greenhouse. It started so suddenly.”
The family then fled to a tented camp in Al-Mawasi on Gaza’s southern coastline. Tima said: “There’s maybe one free water truck every two weeks, but the lines are so long.
“The water is not great. We have stomach issues and sometimes we have to buy bottled water. I’m worried about health issues as my son has already been sick. And I’m worried about insects and snakes in the tents and it not being safe for the baby. We wake a lot at night as we can’t secure the tent and we sleep on the floor.
“I’ll protect Lana as much as I can, as we protect ourselves. We hope it will be OK.” Pregnancy while living in a tent was anything but straightforward for Tima. “I had back pain because we have to do everything on the ground – cooking, washing, sleeping. It was tough being pregnant during the war. All the moving around.
“I’d just get settled in one place then I’d have to move again. My son is always covered in sand, and I have to change him multiple times a day.”
Little Lana arrived safely in April at the Al-Mawasi Save the Children maternity unit. “Her father has red hair, so she definitely looks like me,” says Tima. But joy turned to dread when Lana developed a fever that led to sepsis three days after leaving the unit. Tima’s swift action returning her to hospital led to intravenous antibiotics clearing it up. Meanwhile toddler Hani has witnessed things no child should see.
“He’s becoming angrier and it’s hard to control him,” said Tima. “When we tell him not to touch dangerous things he won’t listen. He’s seeing things a child shouldn’t see and yelling ‘boom’ when there are air strikes.”
More than 14,000 children in Gaza have been killed, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry – with up to 21,000 estimated missing. More than 495,000 people across Gaza face “catastrophic” levels of food insecurity.
Meanwhile Tima’s gran Eileen, 49, told us: “The last few months we’ve been so worried about how she would manage and where she’d give birth. I wish Lana was born in different circumstances. I wish she was in our house and in our garden.”
- Names have been changed. To give to Save the Children’s Gaza emergency appeal, visit savethechildren.org.uk
