Israel’s war with Hamas separates Palestinian babies from their mothers

By
, 
and 
Updated December 28, 2023 at 6:03 p.m. EST|Published November 17, 2023 at 1:00 a.m. EST
A nurse attends to a premature baby named Saaidah inside an incubator at a hospital in Israel on Wednesday. Saaidah's parents are in Gaza. (Salwan Georges/The Washington Post)
8 min
Editor's Note

An earlier version of this article about Palestinian mothers in Gaza who have been separated from their newborns mischaracterized some aspects of Israeli rules for permits that allowed some Palestinian women, before Oct. 7, to travel from Gaza to give birth at hospitals in the West Bank and Israel. The article incorrectly said that all Palestinian mothers who received authorization to leave Gaza for humanitarian reasons had to return to Gaza to reapply after their permits expired. In fact, it was not always necessary for mothers to return to Gaza. The article has been updated to specify that it was hospital officials who told two Palestinian mothers that they needed to return to Gaza to apply for new permits.

The article also reported an incorrect birth weight for one newborn, Mahmoud; he weighed 3½ pounds, not 7 pounds. The article has been corrected.

In addition, The Post neglected to seek comment from Israeli officials for this article, an omission that fell short of The Post’s standards for fairness. The article has been updated with a statement from an Israeli agency that implements policies in Gaza and the West Bank that says the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas militants that killed 1,200 Israelis is the primary reason that mothers and babies remain separated. The article has also been updated to describe the post-Oct. 7 status of travel permits out of Gaza.

NABLUS, West Bank — The tiny twins didn’t cry like the other babies did. Their small sounds and snuffles were barely audible above the lilting bleeps of incubators in the neonatal ward. It wasn’t normal, the staff agreed, but no one had been able to reach their mother.

Her phone number was scrawled on a Post-it note tacked to the inside of 3-month-old Muayyed’s plastic cot — so the nurses could keep sending her pictures of the babies, could keep calling until someone picked up. The silences lasted days, sometimes longer.

Israel-Gaza war

The Israel-Gaza war has gone on for six months, and tensions have spilled into the surrounding region.

The war: On Oct. 7, Hamas militants launched an unprecedented cross-border attack on Israel that included the taking of civilian hostages at a music festival. (See photos and videos of how the deadly assault unfolded). Israel declared war on Hamas in response, launching a ground invasion that fueled the biggest displacement in the region since Israel’s creation in 1948.

Gaza crisis: In the Gaza Strip, Israel has waged one of this century’s most destructive wars, killing tens of thousands and plunging at least half of the population into “famine-like conditions.” For months, Israel has resisted pressure from Western allies to allow more humanitarian aid into the enclave.

U.S. involvement: Despite tensions between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and some U.S. politicians, including President Biden, the United States supports Israel with weapons, funds aid packages, and has vetoed or abstained from the United Nations’ cease-fire resolutions.

History: The roots of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and mistrust are deep and complex, predating the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948. Read more on the history of the Gaza Strip.