ガザ避難先で四つ子出産、疲弊する両親

【デイルアルバラ（パレスチナ自治区）ＡＦＰ＝時事】パレスチナ自治区ガザ地区北部に住んでいたイマン・マスリさん（２８）は、徒歩でたどり着いた南部の病院で四つ子を出産した後、疲れ切っていた。（写真は、イマン・マスリさんが出産した四つ子のうちの３人。パレスチナ自治区ガザ地区中部デイルアルバラで避難所となっている学校の教室で）
　１０月７日にガザを実効支配するイスラム組織ハマスがイスラエルに奇襲を仕掛け、イスラエルが報復攻撃を開始した数日後、マスリさんは身重の体で北部ベイトハヌンの自宅から３人の子どもを連れ、徒歩で避難を始めた。
　まず同じ北部にあるジャバリア難民キャンプまで５キロ歩き、さらに南に位置する中部デイルアルバラへ行く移動手段を探した。
　妊娠６か月だったマスリさんは「あまりに遠すぎた」「妊娠・出産に影響した」とＡＦＰに語った。
　マスリさんは今月１８日、中部ヌセイラット難民キャンプの病院で、帝王切開によって娘のティアちゃんとリンちゃん、息子のヤセル君とムハンマド君の四つ子を出産した。
　だがその直後、紛争による負傷者のベッドを確保するため、生まれたばかりの子どもたちを連れて病院を出るように言われた。
　現在はムハンマド君以外の３人とともに、親族５０人が身を寄せるデイルアルバラの学校の教室で生活している。
　ムハンマド君だけは「体重が１０００グラムしかなく、（外では）生き延びることができない」ため、病院に残すしかなかったという。
　伝統に従い「（バラから抽出した）ローズウオーターを浴びさせて」、子どもの誕生を祝いたかったと話すマスリさん。だが、ガザでは清潔な水が入手しにくく、１０日間沐浴（もくよく）させることさえできていないという。
　ミルク、薬、おむつなどの衛生用品を含む必需品の不足も深刻だ。「本当ならば、２時間おきにおむつを替えるのに、状況は厳しく倹約するしかない」ため、真新しいおむつに交換できるのは１日に朝晩２回だけだという。
　夫のアンマル・マスリさん（３３）は家族を養うことができず、打ちのめされている。悪臭のただよう教室で６人の子どもに囲まれながら、「無力さを感じている」と語った。
　「子どものことが心配だ。どうやって子どもたちを守ればいいのか分からない」と途方に暮れる。１日の大半は食料を探しに出かけている。
　「（黄疸〈おうだん〉のある）ティアには母乳を与えなければならないので、妻にはタンパク質を含む栄養価の高い食べ物が必要だ。子どもたちにはミルクとおむつが必要だ。でも、どれも手に入らない」【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2023/12/28-16:53）

Iman al-Masry is simply exhausted after giving birth to quadruplets in a hospital in southern Gaza, miles away from her home in the north of the war-torn Palestinian territory.
Days into the Israel-Hamas war sparked by Hamas's October 7 attack on Israel, the young woman fled the family home in Beit Hanun on foot with her three other children seeking safety.
They walked five kilometres (three miles) to the Jabalia refugee camp, looking for a means of transport that would take them to Deir al-Balah further south.
Iman was six months pregnant and the distance was too long, she told AFP.
It affected my pregnancy, added the 28-year-old mother, who gave birth by C-section on December 18 to daughters Tia and Lynn and sons Yasser and Mohammed.
But Iman was quickly asked to leave the hospital with the newborns -- minus Mohammed who was too fragile to go with them -- to make room for other patients of the war.
Now, with Tia, Lynn and Yasser, they live in a cramped schoolroom turned shelter in Deir al-Balah along with around 50 other members of their extended family.
Mohammed weighs only one kilogramme (2.2 pounds). He cannot survive, she said of the child she left behind at a hospital in the Nuseirat refugee camp.
Lying on a foam mattress in a schoolroom turned shelter for her and her extended family, Iman recounts her journey from hell.
When I left home, I had only some summer clothes for the children. I thought the war would last a week or two and that afterwards we would go back home, she said.
More than 11 weeks later, her hope of ever going back are shattered.
The Gaza Strip, home to 2.4 million people, lies in ruins from the north to the south. According to UN estimates, the fighting has displaced 1.9 million Palestinians internally.
The conflict erupted when Hamas gunmen attacked southern Israel, resulting in the deaths of about 1,140 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli figures.
Palestinian militants also took around 250 hostages, 129 of whom remain in captivity, Israel says.
Israel retaliated with a relentless bombardment and a siege of Gaza followed by a ground invasion from October 27.
The campaign has killed at least 21,110 people, according to the latest toll issued by Gaza's health ministry, about two thirds of them women and children.
- 'Helpless' -
Like other mothers, Iman had hoped to follow tradition and celebrate the birth of her babies by dousing them with rose water, she said.
But 10 days on we have not even been able to bathe them, she said, because of the difficulty of finding clear water in the devastated territory, where there is a dire shortage of basic food stuff, including milk, medicine and hygienic supplies such as diapers.
Normally I would change babies' diapers every two hours. But the situation is difficult and I must be thrifty, she said, adding that the newborns get only a fresh diaper in the morning and another in the evening.
Her husband Ammar al-Masry, 33, said he is devastated because he cannot provide for his family.
I feel helpless, he said, surrounded by his six children in the foul-smelling schoolroom.
I fear for my children. I don't know how to protect them, he said, adding that he spends most of his days outdoors searching for food.
Tia (who has jaundice) must be breastfed and my wife needs nutritious food that contains protein. The children need milk and diapers. But I cannot get any of that.