A Birth Under Fire
How my family brought a child into the world while death closed in on every side
Foreword
I want to introduce you to Alaa. Some of you already know him from the notes I’ve shared on Substack. We have been helping his family for months, and many of you have followed their situation closely.
What you are about to read is one of the communications he sent me. It is written like a letter, but it is more than that. It is a record of one night in Gaza. One moment inside the long, brutal, savage reality that Palestinians have been forced to live through during this genocide. It is only one situation among many, but it shows the truth of what families like his face every day and every night.
Alaa wants these stories to be known. He wants the world to understand what life in Gaza has become. I have encouraged him to come onto Substack himself so he can speak directly, in his own voice, and he plans to do that. Until then, I am sharing this piece with his permission.
Most families in Gaza need the world’s attention and help right now. Everyone knows this. Their suffering is immense. If you feel you want to support Alaa and his family, you can do so here.
My dearest Kathy…
I'm going to tell you about one of the hardest days we've ever endured, a day whose details are still etched in my heart as if it happened yesterday.
On a cold, dark night, in the Abu Iskandar area of northern Gaza, we were surrounded.
Tanks were all around us, planes never left the sky, and the shelling shook the ground beneath our feet. Anyone who tried to leave was killed instantly. There was no hospital, no ambulance, no safe place to escape to.
My mother, my 19-year-old sister, my wife, and my child were all huddled in a small, dark room, shivering with fear, hunger, and cold. We had no food or water, and I hadn't slept for days because of the sheer terror.
That night, which I will never forget, I tried to doze off for a while despite the sound of shelling and explosions, but after only half an hour, I heard a scream that pierced my heart…
“Get up, my son… your sister is giving birth!”
I woke up terrified. I saw my mother crying and screaming my name, and my sister writhing in agony. No one was around to help us. No doctor, no medicine, no electricity… only death surrounded us from the outside and fear gnawing at us from within.
I sat helplessly beside my sister, not knowing what to do or where to take her. I could hear the shelling so close, it felt like the sky was falling on our heads.
I knelt down and cried out, “Oh God… take me, but protect my sister and her baby.”
I wept like I’ve never wept before, and my mother and wife wept with me, while my sister screamed in pain and terror.
Suddenly, blood began to flow from her, and soon the baby was born, but the umbilical cord remained attached inside her womb. We had no medical equipment or doctor to help us.
At that moment, we felt that death had taken everything from us…
But God was with us.
My mother brought a small pair of scissors, her hands trembling with fear, and cut the umbilical cord herself to save my sister and her baby. We thought the baby wouldn't survive and that my sister would bleed to death, but God granted them life amidst the hell.
My wife held the baby to her chest, trying to keep him warm, while my mother stayed by my sister's side, trying to stop the bleeding. We had no clothes for the baby, no diapers, and no milk.
My mother tore up old blankets and fashioned a cloth to wrap the baby in, and we used plastic bags instead of diapers.
Two whole days passed without food… The baby cried from hunger, and we had nothing for him. We gave him water instead of milk, even though he was only a day or two old.
We were expecting him to die at any moment, but God didn't abandon us.
After two days, God blessed my sister with milk, and her baby began to nurse. Only then did I feel my heart beating again.
Today that child is two and a half years old, and every time I look at him, I remember that night… I remember my sister's screams, my mother's tears, my fear and helplessness, and how we waited for death every second.
This isn't a movie or a fairy tale, Kathy…
This is what we lived through in Gaza.
This is how our children were born under bombardment, and this is how we fought death with empty hands and weary hearts, while the world watched in silence.
Thank you for sharing your story.
I am not so nice with my words. I wish very much that Iran finishes the job, that Israel burns entirely beyond salvation. That it is wipe out the face of earth. Enough of these cruel, evil, zio people. I want that the people of the entirely region get rid of them.