The death of Sabreen, a newborn, whose photos have traveled around the world these days, symbolizing all the orphans of the tragedy of war, died in the city of Rafah in the Gaza Strip.
The girl came into the world in the southern part of the Gaza Strip, her mother, as well as her father and sister died from bombs. Doctors managed to save the girl by performing a caesarean section, but unfortunately the girl died a few days later.
Sabreen Jouda was born amid the rubble that buried her family. The girl, a premature orphan, came into the world seconds after the last breath of her mother Sabreen al-Sakani, who died along with her husband Shoukri and little three-year-old Malak.
Sabreen was given her mother’s name, which was chosen by doctors who performed a caesarean section after the woman died in hospital. The girl was immediately transferred to an incubator, it was expected that in a few weeks she would be able to be raised by relatives, uncles and grandparents. “We hope that this little girl, born in the face of death, will be a sign of life for all of Gaza and the entire Holy Land,” said the head of the Franciscan Custody of the Holy Land, Fr. Francesco Patton. He even quoted the words of the Easter sequence: “Death and life will do a wonderful battle” when talking about such extraordinary circumstances of the girl’s birth. Unfortunately, the newborn, who symbolized hope, did not survive.
