Premature babies who escaped the war in Gaza have finally been reunited with their families after more than 2 years

There was an emotional reunion of at least 10 families on Monday in the war-torn Gaza Strip, and the start of a new chapter in the dramatic story of more than a dozen babies born prematurely in the chaos of Israel’s war with Hamas.

In November 2023, at Gaza’s Al-Shifa hospital, dozens of premature babies wrapped in aluminum foil in an attempt to protect themselves from the cold weather grabbed international headlines as the hospital, under siege by Israeli forcesit ran out of fuel to keep its life-saving medical equipment running.

In the operation carried out by the Red Crescent, with the help of the United Nations, more than twenty young children he crossed the southern border of Gaza and entered Egypt for emergency medical care. Many of them survived this ordeal, but they could not return home to Gaza as Israel maintains Israel the border crossing is closed until the beginning of this yearand the campaigns against Hamas continue every day.

Because of this, many families stuck in Gaza – including some of the parents – have not been able to meet their children. But that changed Monday.

“Today, half an hour from now, I will meet my daughter for the first time, as if I gave birth to her today. It is an indescribable feeling,” Sundus Al-Kurd, one of the mothers who gathered in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis, waiting to meet their children, told CBS News.

“I have mixed feelings,” Al-Kurd said. “The fear that my daughter will not see or accept me, and the joy as the mother is reunited with her child.”

28 children arrived in Egypt in 2023. Seven died and others returned to the border during the ceasefire, but the Gaza Health Ministry said 10 were brought back to the area by bus on Monday. A number of parents were able to join their children – now around two and a half years old – in Egypt, leaving their entire families behind in Gaza.

These children were accompanied by nurses when they returned, two of them stayed with them throughout this ordeal. They help maintain contact with families in Gaza and provide them with photos and videos of children growing up in Egypt.

“People hold their children in their hands, but I’ve been holding my son on the phone, as you can see,” said Ahmed Al-Harsh, the father of one of these children, told CBS News while waiting to be reunited, flipping through photos of his son growing up in Egypt. “I will not be able to give him this life [the one in Egypt]. He is two and a half years old now. I lived his life through these pictures.”

“I only saw my child once, in the hospital, when I took his mother to bury her,” Al-Harsh, who said he lost 12 family members in the war, told CBS News. He said his wife died from gunshot wounds but they were able to save her child. “I am happy to see my son after two and a half years, but my happiness is not complete without my family and loved ones. My father was hoping to see my child.”

Monday marked the final chapter in the tragic story of premature babies, Dr. Ahmed Al-Farra, director of children at Gaza’s Nasser hospital, told CBS News as the children arrived.

“We thank God that after two years they came back, the father and mother have seen them, it was a really good time to see the families reunited with their children,” he said.

But for their families, the end of one test, even a ceasefire in the devastated Palestinian territory, does not mean the end of the struggle.

“Life is difficult in Gaza, and he will not receive the same care as he received in Egypt,” Al-Harsh told CBS News.