Gaza toddler born amid airstrike reunites with mother after months in Egyptian care

In October 2023 an Israeli attack on Beit Lahiya killed Bissan's unborn sister and forced her mother Sundus al-Kurd to deliver the baby six weeks early. The newborn was placed in an incubator and later evacuated to Egypt with 28 other pre-term infants as Israeli forces approached a Gaza hospital; seven of those infants did not survive. After months of care in Egyptian facilities, Bissan was returned to Gaza in March through a UN-coordinated operation, joining ten fellow evacuees.

Upon reunion she did not initially recognize her mother, responding to any kind woman with "mama". The pair now navigate daily life amid renewed airstrikes, with Bissan still startled by loud noises. Mental-health specialist Arafat Abu Mashayikh notes that re-establishing parental bonds after such separation takes time, a challenge also faced by other families like Ibrahim and his father Jabri Badr, whose mother Israa Badr died of depression after her son’s evacuation.