Premature Infants Evacuated Now Return as Toddlers

More than two years after being transported out of the Gaza Strip, a group of Palestinian toddlers has returned to the region. These infants were initially evacuated as premature newborns requiring intensive medical intervention in Egypt.

The children arrived at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, Gaza Strip, on Monday, March 30, 2026. Their departure in late 2023 symbolized the severe collateral damage affecting civilians during the conflict.

The Crisis at Shifa Hospital

Samer Lulu was reunited with his oldest daughter, Kinda, whom he last saw before she left Shifa Hospital in November 2023. The evacuation occurred after electricity cuts disabled the incubators keeping the fragile newborns alive.

Shifa Hospital, Gaza’s largest medical facility, sustained damage from nearly two years of fighting between Israel and Hamas. During the initial month of the war, blackouts plagued the hospital after it was besieged by Israeli troops.

Desperate Measures for Survival

The evacuated babies were critically premature, possessing very low weight and thin skin, making survival impossible without constant, specialized care. Medical personnel reportedly swaddled the infants in blankets, removing them from the defunct incubators and placing them side-by-side to maintain necessary body heat.

At the time, doctors informed The Associated Press that 50 premature babies were under care during the first week of the war. Of these, 31 were evacuated, some accompanied by caregivers, while three infants died at Shifa.

The Toll of Evacuation and Return

Hospital official Mohammad Zaqout had warned days before the evacuation that power failures prevented Shifa from sanitizing water, leading to complications like sepsis, diarrhea, and hypothermia among the newborns.

Sundus Al-Kurd shared her initial fear that her daughter, Bissan, now 2 and a half, had died after the evacuation. She was thankfully reunited with Bissan on Monday.

Mixed Emotions for Parents

For parents like Lulu, the return of their children brought a rare instance of happiness amid ongoing hardship. Lulu described Monday as the most significant moment of his life, though his joy was tempered by reality.

“Our feelings are mixed with pain because of the reality we live in,” Lulu stated outside Nasser Hospital. He expressed hope that his children’s future would not mirror the suffering they endured at the start of their lives.

Context of the Conflict

The infants became early indicators of civilian suffering following Israel’s offensive, which began on October 8, 2023, after a deadly attack by Hamas-led fighters that killed over 1,200 people in Israel and took 250 hostages. Hamas is designated as a terrorist organization by the US, Canada, and the EU.

Israel asserted that combatants used hospital complexes as military command centers. While Hamas and hospital officials denied the presence of fighters at the time of the evacuations, security personnel had often been observed inside hospitals, restricting access.

The Fate of the Evacuees

Naser Bulbul, from Shifa’s neonatal unit, previously noted the immediate danger of power loss: “Most cases in the neonatal unit depend on electricity… a disaster will occur within five minutes.”

The 11 toddlers returned via the partially reopened Rafah crossing from Egypt, accompanied by seven caregivers, according to an anonymous Israeli official who credited UNICEF for assistance. Four other evacuees died after reaching Egypt in critical condition; some parents still lack information about their newborns.

Two-year-old Ibrahim Bader reunited with his father and grandmother, but his mother died in December 2023 after most Gaza hospitals ceased or scaled back services. Ibrahim, Kinda, and the others return to a Gaza devastated by the conflict.

A Transformed Homeland

Israel’s offensive has resulted in over 72,000 Palestinian deaths, according to local health authorities, and has displaced the majority of the population amid widespread ruin. While some hospitals operate partially, ongoing issues with fuel and supplies necessitate backup generators.

Ahmed al-Farra, a pediatrician at Nasser Hospital, described the reunions as bittersweet, conveying both sadness and the joy of family reconnection. The Gaza Health Ministry, operating under the Hamas-led government, maintains casualty records considered generally reliable by UN agencies.