A Palestinian woman recently gave birth to quadruplets through in vitro fertilization using her imprisoned husband’s sperm after she managed to sneak it out of an Israeli prison where he has been held for 15 years, her family said today.

Ahmad Shamali, 37, has been held in Nafha prison since 2008. convicted of attempted murderaccording to Israel’s prison service.

His wife gave birth to three boys and a girl at Makasset Hospital in East Jerusalem, where she was rushed due to complications in her pregnancy. On Sunday, he returned to Sazaya, in western Gaza, Ahmad’s mother, Naja Shamali, said. After two failed IVF attempts, “my son, who is a prisoner, was lucky enough to have quadruplets after illegally taking his sperm from prison,” he added, without elaborating on how this was done.

The prison service did not want to comment on this information. In the past he claimed that these were unproven “rumours”.

THE Umm Ubeida Shamali, 34, was already a mother of two teenagers – had her children at a young age, when her husband was still single. She was seven months pregnant when she developed complications and gave birth to the quadruplets, who were hospitalized for 45 days, her mother-in-law explained, holding two of her grandchildren in her arms.

“Our joy will not be complete without the release of their father, to be with them and take care of them,” Samali said, clarifying that her son is serving an 18-year sentence.

According to the Palestinian Prisoners Union, 122 children have been born with sperm smuggled out of Israeli prisons since 2012.We call these babies ambassadors of freedom” said Kandura Fares, the president of this organization that defends the rights of Palestinian prisoners. Some families have said that the inmates hid the sperm in small objects, such as pens, which they handed to them at the visiting station or entrusted to fellow inmates who were about to be released.