Gaza mother holds baby in Jerusalem after six-month wait

Tiny Maryam smiled as she was picked up by her mother for the first time since her premature birth on August 1.

"It's a very beautiful feeling. Finally I can take her in my arms. Now I just hope that she'll be happy for ever," her grinning mother said. 

Daoud and rights groups said she had submitted an application several months ago to re-enter Jerusalem to retrieve baby Maryam from a hospital in Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem, but received no reply.

The Israeli defence ministry body responsible denied that any application had been received.

The PA circulated a document allegedly showing that the request had been submitted. 

Palestinians in the Gaza Strip need to apply for individual permits to enter or transit Israel, but do so through the Palestinian Authority. 

Daoud said the Israeli authorities called late on Sunday to say she could cross the Gaza-Israel border, shortly after a television feature on the case.

Jumana Daoud picked up her baby daughter for the first time since her birth on August 1 [AFP]

"She had no maternal affection, nobody held her," said a tearful Umm Abdul Rahman, a woman from east Jerusalem who said she came in weekly to check on Maryam, sending photos to the family via WhatsApp. 

"I was trying to hold her and make her laugh."

Daoud was previously granted permission to travel to Jerusalem in July 2016 for medical treatment as there were complications with her pregnancy.

Born prematurely

Hospitals in Gaza do not have the facilities to care for premature babies, said paediatrician Mohammed al-Najjar at Makassed Hospital in east Jerusalem where Maryam was born more than two months early along with a sibling who died.

She needed to be kept in an incubator for several weeks in order to survive, doctors said.

Daoud said she now had to return to Gaza to care for her other two young children, assuming she could do so quickly once Maryam's health improved.

She reapplied for a permit to visit Jerusalem in October, she said, a claim supported by Physicians for Human Rights Israel.

Physicians for Human Rights said this was not an isolated incident

Her story was covered by Israel's Channel 10 on Sunday night, and the permit was granted shortly afterwards.

"The Palestinian side had unfortunately filed no request on her. When we heard about the case, we coordinated the mother's arrival to the hospital within 24 hours," alleged COGAT, the defence ministry agency responsible for the Palestinian territories.

Hossam Liftawi from Physicians for Human Rights said this was not an isolated incident.

"There are many cases in the hospital of mothers going back to Gaza for some reason," he said, explaining they find it hard to get another permit because of slow-moving Israeli bureaucracy.

"Most of the cases last for a month or two but this one is the longest," he added, calling on Israel to improve its processes.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has expressed concerns about the decreasing percentage of Palestinians from Gaza given permission to enter Israel for treatment.

In December, only 41.7 percent of more than 2,500 patient applications were granted, the lowest rate since April 2009, according to the WHO.

A relatively small number were refused, but the majority received no answer in time for their appointment dates.

A UN source said they were informed by Israeli officials at a recent meeting that a number of applications had been deleted by accident.