Date: 16 September 2024

I am Taghreed Al- Emawi a mother of two daughters “Sawsan and Elaf”, I am a doctor who used to work in Kamal Adwan Hospital. In October 2023, I was among around 150,000 pregnant women in Gaza and was expecting to give birth to my baby boy by December 2023.

My story doesn’t start from the first day of the war. My story started eight months ago. The day I knew I was pregnant with my third child.

When the war started, despite being pregnant, I still joined my co-workers in the mission of saving lives for around 20 days, till the moment I had a premature delivery of my child who was immediately placed in the incubator.

The war and the ongoing heavy bombarding had forced me to leave the hospital after only one night of giving birth to my child; leaving him alone in the incubator as he was in need for mechanical ventilation.

My suffering didn’t end here; instead of returning to my home with my husband and two daughters, we had to take my private clinic as a shelter, as our home in Beit Lahia was hit and destroyed.

I was longing to hold my newborn in my arms; with a hope filled with nerve-racking uncertainty of the situation, I managed to visit him daily in the hospital, but as the war continued, my heart burnt with fear for my child, especially that fuel and medical supplies were running dry at the hospital.

When I learned about the shortage of supplies, I was overwhelmed with anxiety about my child, but I eventually managed to grab a few essential medical supplies which helped him survive the situation just for a short while.

The electricity was cut out at the hospital, my son was moved to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) which relied on solar power to operate the ventilators.

Despite all the efforts, my premature infant who was struggling for breath, died.

In the midst of such sorrow, I didn’t only lose my son, I lost my right to give him a proper farewell.

Due to the intense bombardment and displacement orders, we were forced to flee again- and again along with many families who lost their homes, and their families were torn apart. This time, we sought refuge at Jabalia School.

Despite these hardships, I found strength and purpose through my involvement in providing health care to refugees, collaborating with my co-worker doctor Ghassan Al -Emawi. I have a big role in offering hope during such a profound crisis.

One day, when the war end; I will build a new home and honour the memory of my child “Mohammad”.

My message to the world:
To all those who have the power to help; we in the Gaza Strip are facing a brutal genocidal war targeting innocent children and women. Immediate action is needed to stop this war and save the lives of our innocent people.