‘My baby girl was born on the street’: A traumatic birth in Gaza
Al Jazeera
On a cold night, Alaa gave birth on a dark road. Afterwards, she and her baby had to find a way to get to the hospital.
Every morning, Alaa al-Nimer wakes up to bathe her six-month-old daughter, Nimah. There is no running water – there hasn’t been for many months – and the water she uses sparingly is collected from distribution points close to a relative’s house in Gaza City’s northern Sheikh Radwan neighbourhood. Despite the hardships Alaa and her family now endure, she is determined to treat her green-eyed daughter to a daily bath.
The 34-year-old mother of three says her daughter’s smile is a “balm for her soul” during a time of “darkness”.
But her birth was more traumatic than Alaa could ever have anticipated.
“My baby girl was born on the street,” she explains shyly.
She describes it as the most difficult day of her life.
