A baby girl was born by caesarean sectionor while her mother had been killed along with her father and sister in an Israeli raid in Rafah.

A total of 19 people died overnight from the intensifying attacks in the southern part of the enclave, Palestinian doctors said.

Those 19 people, among them 13 children of one family, were killed by an Israeli strike against two houses, the same sources added.

Photo AP

The infant, who weighs 1.4 kg and was born by caesarean section, he is in a stable condition and his health is gradually improving, explained Mohamed Salama, the doctor who is taking care of him.

Her mother, Sabrin al-Shakani, was 30 weeks pregnant when she was killed.

The infant has been placed in an incubator in a hospital in Rafa, with the phrase “the baby of the martyr Sabrin al-Shakani” to be written in tape on his chest.

Malak, Sakani’s young daughter who was killed in the Israeli attack, wanted to name her sister Rooh, which means “spirit” in Arabic, her uncle Rami al-Sheikh said.

The infant will remain in the hospital for three to four weeks, Salama said. “Then we will see where this child goes, to the family, to the aunt, uncle or grandparents. This is the greatest tragedy: even if that child survives, he is born an orphan“, explained.

Thirteen children and two women were killed in the strike on the second house, which belonged to the Abdel Aal family, according to Palestinian officials.

When asked about the casualties in Rafah, an Israeli army spokesman said that various military targets were hit in Gaza, including military infrastructure, rocket launchers and gunmen.

“Did you see any men among the dead?” asked Saqr Abdel Aal, a Palestinian whose family is among the dead, grieving over the body of a child wrapped in a white shroud.

“They are all women and children,” he added.

Mohammadal Behairi said his daughter and granddaughter were still under the debris. “We have a feeling of sadness, depression, we have nothing left in life to cry about, what else can we feel? When you lose your children, when you lose the ones you love the most, how do you feel?” he said.

Mass grave

Palestinian health authorities have announced that more than 34,000 people have been killed in the Gaza Strip since the start of Israeli operations there. The war broke out on October 7 after an unprecedented attack by Hamas against Israel that claimed the lives of around 1,200 people.

Moreover, yesterday the Hamas Health Ministry pointed out that 48 Palestinians were killed and another 79 wounded in Gaza from the Israeli strikes in the last 24 hours.

For their part, the Palestinian Authority announced that 60 bodies were recovered from a mass grave at Nasser Hospital in the city of Khan Yunis, weeks after Israeli forces withdrew from it. With these dead, the number of bodies found in the hospital yard since April 12 increases to 210.

According to the same source, around 2,000 people are still missing in the rubble in Khan Younis as are another 1,000 in the central Gaza Strip, their bodies unable to be retrieved from the rubble as there is no heavy machinery.