Relatives are reunited with a child, who, as a preterm infant, was taken from Gaza during the two-year Israeli military campaign. The child has now come back to Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, located in the southern Gaza Strip, on March 30, 2026, after receiving treatment in Egypt. Ramadan Abed/Reuters
When Sundus al Kurd and her daughter Bissan were separated at the commencement of the Israel-Hamas conflict in 2023, she doubted she would ever see her again. Bissan was merely a few days old when her mother consented to her medical removal from the Gaza strip to Egypt.
The life of the premature infant, along with those of others, was rescued by the World Health Organization and the Palestinian Red Crescent during the height of the hostilities; now, the two have come together again.
"After all of this time, my daughter is, at last, back in my arms!" proclaims al Kurd, a young Palestinian mother, as she embraced her child for the first time in over two years.
Relatives are reunited with a child, who, as a preterm infant, was taken from Gaza during the two-year Israeli military campaign, and has now returned after obtaining care in Egypt, at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, March 30, 2026.Ramadan Abed/Reuters
"Every day, I lived in apprehension — apprehension that I might never embrace her again, apprehension that she might not remember me. But the instant I held her once more, it felt as though she had never departed. That instant was sheer happiness!" the 27-year-old al Kurd communicated to ABC News.
Bissan, who has resided in Egypt for the previous 2 1/2 years, had been among 33 premature infants caught within the Al Shifa hospital as the Israeli military laid siege to it in November 2023.
"Being together with my daughter again is something I find difficult to articulate completely. It’s a combination of comfort, affection, and something more profound — like existence being restored to me after being stopped for a long period," al Kurd expressed.
"The initial night we were together was deeply sentimental. I couldn’t find sleep. I constantly watched her, held her, ensuring she was truly there beside me. I hesitated to close my eyes, as if everything was a figment of my imagination that might vanish," she revealed.
Bissan’s existence had been in grave peril in November 2023, according to doctors. The neonatal unit she was housed in at Al Shifa hospital was running low on fuel and oxygen, being isolated by the Israeli army, which had surrounded the hospital, alleging that Hamas had a clandestine command center in its confines, an assertion strongly refuted by both Hamas medical teams present there.
"They were destined to perish without incubators, without oxygen, without water, yet they overcame every single phase of this dreadful situation," Dr. Ahmed Mokhallalati, the former chief of plastic surgery at Al Shifa Hospital, conveyed to ABC News.
Relatives are reunited with a child wearing a pink sweater, who, as a preterm infant, was taken from Gaza during the two-year Israeli military campaign, and has now returned after obtaining care in Egypt, at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, March 30, 2026.Ramadan Abed/Reuters
Mokhallalati was among the few doctors who stayed at Al Shifa throughout the Israeli siege.
"Most of the doctors were surgeons, not even pediatricians, but we felt we had to do our utmost to sustain these kids," he expressed. "We felt these kids were akin to our own babies. Each morning, we would check solely to ascertain they were still living."
He commented that the direness of the situation led some parents to abandon their infants.
"There were no parents present as the hospital had been bombarded, compelling individuals to evacuate to protect their other offspring," Mokhallalati mentioned. "In the logic of survival, mothers fled with the offspring who could move and abandoned those who could not, making an unfeasible determination."
The premature infants were left battling for survival for days, with one doctor and six nurses tending to them in ever-deteriorating circumstances, he stated.
"We were unaware of their names, we did not know their parents. They had no one to provide care. They solely wore small wristbands, generally containing their mothers’ names, and that was the single detail we possessed about them," Mokhallalati expressed.
Not every infant pulled through those harrowing days. Five succumbed as the team labored to sustain them with sustenance and warmth, yet Mokhallalati was amazed that numerous infants survived.
"They were bound to die at numerous junctures, yet they overcame every single challenge," adding, "They represented the singular sensation of hope we experienced amidst all of this upheaval and destruction."
On Nov. 19, 2023, they were rescued after the WHO and the Palestinian Red Crescent gained entry to the hospital. They carried the valuable group through an active war area to a hospital situated in Rafah, southern Gaza, before transporting them across the boundary to Egypt, authorities stated.
"Twenty-eight were removed to Egypt, yet seven further demised there due to the harsh conditions, leaving 21 survivors. From that total, 11 have now returned on March 30, whilst four others arrived earlier when the Rafah crossing became accessible, and six stay in Egypt with their families," Dr. Ahmed Al-Farra, the chief of pediatrics and neonatal care at Nasser Hospital in Gaza, informed ABC News.
Among those returning was 2-year-old Azzhar Kafarna. Her mother, Heba Saleh, described to ABC News the distress of their separation.
"Throughout two and a half years, I felt a constant void," she expressed.
"I missed everything — her initial grin, her first steps, even the minor occurrences that every mother anticipates. I would picture her … her current appearance, the sound of her voice, and whether she would identify me upon our eventual encounter," Saleh conveyed.
She felt anxious about their reunion, "Upon seeing her again, I felt overwhelmed. I simply embraced her tightly. It was as though I held every missed day in that singular instance."
Al-Farra assessed every toddler when they arrived back in Gaza this week.
"The children are, on the whole, in satisfactory condition, with regular weight and development, but several encounter issues connected to extreme prematurity," he remarked.
Al-Farra mentions that many of them, "suffer from sight impairments and need glasses as their optic nerves weren’t entirely developed," such as Bissan, who sports a vivid red set of eyeglasses.
Nonetheless, not all of them have come back to joyful reunions.
3:012-year-old Palestinian toddler reunites with mom in Gaza years after start of warBissan, who spent the last 2 1/2 years in Egypt, had been one of 33 premature babies trapped inside the Al Shifa hospital as the Israeli military laid siege to it in November 2023.ABCNews.com
"I doubt that every one of these children possesses parents to return to. Some of their families were likely killed during the conflict," Al-Farra stated.
"In one instance, the child’s identity is shrouded in uncertainty, with more than one individual laying claim to the infant. We are in the process of identifying the family; however, without the means of DNA analysis within Gaza, we lack the ability to verify the child’s lineage," he explained.
Concern About Going Back to Gaza
Both of the mothers that ABC News engaged with felt apprehensive regarding their children returning to Gaza.
"As a mother, I experience every sentiment at once. I'm pleased she's finally with me … yet at the same time, I feel remorseful, despite lacking alternatives. I constantly ruminate upon every instant I was absent for." Saled stated.
"And naturally, I'm anxious regarding bringing her up in Gaza. I aspire for her to sense security, to lead a typical life, but the circumstances here are far from simple," Saled stated.
That sentiment was reiterated by al Kurd.
"I too feel apprehensive. My daughter is yet to hear the sounds of bombardment. I dread how she might react were she to experience it here in Gaza. That concern perpetually occupies my heart."
"I hope for my daughter to have an improved future, a life that is more secure and more consistent than the one we are presently experiencing," al Kurd said.
Sourse: abcnews.go.com