Baby born by emergency caesarean after Israeli strike dies

April 11 2024 500 AM PDT By Mo Abbas and Erin McLaughlin

Orphaned by an airstrike and saved from her dead mother's womb baby Sabreen has died Her miraculous birth brought brief hope to her

A baby girl who was born by emergency caesarean section after her mother was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza has died, the BBC has learned.

Baby Sabreen was born on Sunday in the al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City. She was named after her mother, Sabreen Abu Odeh, who was killed along with her husband and three other children in the strike.

The seven-day-old baby was born prematurely and weighed just 1.5kg. She was taken to the intensive care unit, where she was given oxygen and antibiotics.

However, she died in the early hours of Monday morning, according to a medical source at the hospital.

The Israeli military said it was investigating the incident. It said that it had targeted a Hamas military site in Rafah, but that it was aware of reports that civilians had been killed.

The airstrike was part of a wider escalation of violence in Gaza. At least 45 people were killed in the strike, and more than 200 were injured.

The UN has called for an independent investigation into the incident.