Islam Al-Qanou addressed her newborn son as she made her way back to the camp for displaced people in Gaza’s southern city of Khan Younis.
“Oh, Abdel Hadi, you came in a time of destruction and war,” she said. “There is no bed for the boy. We are staying in the open air and on the sand.”
It proved an accurate description of the baby's new home.
Using wood to hold up blankets and other bits of cloth, some of it marked with the logo of the United Nations Children’s Fund, Abdel Hadi’s family had marked out a small plot of their own among thousands of people.
Under a small covered section, a makeshift crib hanging with string had been made with a plastic crate. A cushion and pink blanket for comfort.
Underneath, a pair of thin mattresses for the mother to lie on.
“It was an indescribable happiness especially amidst this sadness and destruction,” Islam’s husband, Mahmood Al-Qanou, told NBC News shortly after their arrival. “We hope this baby heals some of our wounds and suffering.”
But the war in Gaza is never far away and as Islam feeds her newborn son, a loud explosion rings out nearby and black smoke billows into the air.
It provides a reminder that death is never far away in the Gaza Strip, where health officials say more than 41,000 people have been killed since Hamas' Oct. 7 terror attacks on Israel, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 250 people taken hostage, according to Israeli tallies.
Delivered by cesarean section at Nasser Hospital a few days earlier on Aug. 15, Abdel Hadi Al-Qanou was almost 7 pounds when he was born.
Others were not so lucky, according to Dr. Shereen Allwai who worked for 10 years in Nasser Hospital as an OB-GYN.
“We can’t give a pregnant woman enough care,” she said.
“The health condition for the mothers is very critical and very difficult for many reasons. There is severe malnutrition in the pregnant mother and there is deficiency in drugs and supplements, so the newborn is very low birth weight,” she added.
In Islam’s case, doctors admitted her almost straight away after realizing she was suffering from high blood pressure.
“We operated by giving her a partial anesthetic, not a full one so that her blood pressure would not rise,” Dr. Iyad Al-Dagga said shortly after the birth. “Thank God, as we see, the child is in good condition.”
Islam, 43, who became a mother of 10 with Abdel Hadi’s arrival, said she was hoping for a better future for all of her family.
“There will be a new happiness born, and God willing, it will be a happier time for us,” she said, adding, “We are happy. I will have a new baby, and he will bring us joy. I believe God will reward us for those who we lost, the shelling, the fear and the displacement. This is my message.”
