Iman al-Masry is simply exhausted after giving birth to quadruplets in a hospital in southern Gaza, miles from her home in the north of the war-torn Palestinian territory.
In mid-October, a few days after the start of the war between Israel and Hamas, the young woman fled on foot from the family home in Beit Hanoon with her three other children to seek refuge.
They walked five kilometers to the Jabalia refugee camp, looking for transportation that would take them to Deir el-Balah, further south.
Iman was six months pregnant and “the distance was too long,” she said.
“It affected my pregnancy,” added the 28-year-old mother, who gave birth by cesarean section on December 18 to her daughters Tia and Lynn and sons Yasser and Mohammed.
But Iman was quickly asked to leave the hospital with the newborns – without Mohammed who was too fragile to accompany them – to make way for other patients from the war.
Today, with Tia, Lynn and Yasser, they live in a cramped classroom-turned-shelter in Deir el-Balah with around 50 other members of their extended family.
“Mohammed weighs only one kilogram (2.2 pounds). He cannot survive,” she said of the child she left in a hospital in the Nuseirat refugee camp.
Lying on a foam mattress in a classroom transformed into a refuge for her and her extended family, Iman recounts her journey from hell.
“When I left home, I only had a few summer clothes for the children. I thought the war would last a week or two and then we would go home,” she said.
More than 11 weeks later, his hope of ever returning is shattered.
The Gaza Strip, home to 2.4 million inhabitants, is in ruins from north to south. According to UN estimates, the fighting has caused the displacement of 1.9 million Palestinians within the country.
The conflict erupted when Hamas gunmen attacked southern Israel, resulting in the deaths of around 1,139 people.
Palestinian fighters also took around 250 hostages, of whom 129 remain in captivity, according to Israel.
Israel responded with a relentless bombardment and siege of Gaza followed by a ground invasion beginning on October 27.
The campaign has killed at least 21,110 people, according to the latest toll published by the Gaza Health Ministry, around two-thirds of them women and children.
‘Hopeless’
Like other mothers, Iman hoped to follow tradition and celebrate the birth of her babies by “sprinkling them with rose water,” she said.
But ten days later, “we couldn’t even bathe them”, she explained, due to the difficulty of finding drinking water in this devastated territory, where there is a serious shortage of water. basic food products, including milk, medicines and hygiene products. like diapers.
“Normally, I changed the babies’ diapers every two hours. But the situation is difficult and I have to be economical,” she said, adding that newborns only receive a new diaper in the morning and another in the evening.
Her husband Ammar al-Masry, 33, says he is devastated because he cannot provide for his family.
“I feel helpless,” he said, surrounded by his six children in the smelly classroom.
“I’m afraid for my children. I don’t know how to protect them,” he said, adding that he spends most of his days outside foraging for food.
“Tia (who has jaundice) needs to be breastfed and my wife needs nutritious food with protein. Children need milk and diapers. But I can’t get any of that.
