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Hawla Fadlalla being prepped during delivery of quadruplets. (JINI)
Last update - 08:15 08/08/2008
Gaza man denied Israel entry as wife gives birth to quadruplets
By Fadi Eyadat
Tags: Gaza, quadruplets, Israel

A Palestinian woman who gave birth to quadruplets at Ashkelon's Barzilai Hospital this week cannot have her husband visit her from Khan Yunis  nor will Israel let her return to him in the Gaza Strip.

Hawla Fadlalla has been at Barzilai for more than a month. She had been heading from Gaza to Nablus, where she planned to seek treatment at a clinic, but she never made it there. At Gaza's Erez checkpoint, she went into early labor. With her life in danger, she was taken to nearby Barzilai Hospital instead.

"I want my husband beside me now, to see his children," Hawla told the Palestinian liaison official who called her Thursday to congratulate her on the quadruplets.
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He explained to her that Israel would not allow her husband to enter.

Hawla said that before she was admitted to Barzilai, she was asked to sign a commitment not to return to the Gaza Strip.

"I signed. At that moment all I could think about was getting to a hospital," she said Thursday. "Now he can't be with me and the children, and we cannot go to him."

For her husband, Issam Fadlalla, the news of the birth was bittersweet. "It is difficult to describe the joy, because it is mixed with a bit of sorrow. I would have liked to have been with her. I haven't seen her for more than a month," he said.

Hawla recounted the story of their relationship: "I married Issam four years ago. He is originally from Gaza, but when we met, he had been living in the West Bank for more than 10 years.

A month and a half after their marriage, Issam was arrested and charged with falsifying an Israeli identity card, in order to work in Israel. After several months in an Israeli prison, Issam was released to the Gaza Strip, despite his requests to be sent to the couple's home in the West Bank.

Hawla joined him in Gaza after obtaining a visitor's permit good for seven days. She stayed for seven months, during which she underwent artificial insemination.

"I never thought I'd live in Gaza," she said. "The Gaza Strip is a graveyard. Anyone who wants to die should go live in Gaza."

Her pregnancy gave her high blood pressure, and Hawla decided to return to the West Bank for medical treatment and bed rest with her family there.

Now, blocked from entering Gaza, Hawla wants the new family reunited in the West Bank, where they originally intended to live.

"The Israeli authorities should show consideration for our humanitarian case," she said Thursday. "I won't agree to my children knowing their father only through photographs and the Internet."

She said she did not want to raise her children in Gaza. "It's a miserable place; you can't raise children there today. But I don't want my children to grow up without their father, or to leave me when they go to live with their father. That is every mother's nightmare."

Since she arrived at Barzilai, Hawla has been under the care of Prof. Eyal Antebi, the head of the gynecological and obstetrics department. Since none of her relatives had entry permits to Israel, the nurses took her under their wing. The babies were born by Cesarean section.

"This is her first pregnancy and she was nervous before entering the operating theater," explained operating room head Anat Eliasi. "She is alone here, in a strange country, undergoing her first pregnancy, which was by artificial insemination. That is not easy."

The head of the neonatal intensive care unit, Dr. Shmuel Zangan, said the babies two boys and two girls  were born prematurely but were healthy, although one girl is still on a respirator.

"Humanitarian cases must take precedence over security situations," said Issam Fadlalla.

"They understood that at the hospital, and my wife received devoted and pleasant treatment."
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  1.   How inhumane can you get Israel! 03:06  |  Maureen Ann 08/08/08
  2.   good that she got the care she needed 03:11  |  democrat 08/08/08
  3.   Israel keeps piling on the misery... 03:20  |  BBSNews 08/08/08
  4.   She carries a quadruplets pregnancy to successful conclusion 03:23  |  Genuine Tosefta 08/08/08
  5.   Quadruplets and another life 03:51  |  Joe Hill 08/08/08
  6.   for who did she vote for ? 03:53  |  Alon 08/08/08
  7.   ROCKETS OR ROCKETS OH MY!! 04:05  |  Neil Golan 08/08/08
  8.   who is paying for this??? 04:08  |  vik 08/08/08
  9.   this is a new low for israel 04:09  |  the Devils Advocate 08/08/08
  10.   signiture 04:11  |  Joe Hill 08/08/08
  11.   guilty freed ,innocent framed 04:29  |  paulo2005 08/08/08
  12.   Brainwashed 04:33  |  Hirz 08/08/08
  13.   A new low for Israel. 04:49  |  Murray the Mongoose 08/08/08
  14.   #8 Vik. May you be... 04:52  |  Maureen Ann 08/08/08
  15.   Very reasonable restriction to stay away from the "graveyard" 05:00  |  Genuine Tosefta 08/08/08
  16.   Israel is more humane than settler Murine An with Aborigines 05:05  |  Genuine Tosefta 08/08/08
  17.   excuse me--zionist entity hospital care is OK? 05:17  |  bob 08/08/08
  18.   Neil, supporters of Israel like you are the death knell... 05:32  |  BBSNews 08/08/08
  19.   "my wife received devoted and pleasant treatment." 05:38  |  MaryRose 08/08/08
  20.   #16 GT. Last of the Falash Mura to Israel. 06:07  |  Maureen Ann 08/08/08
  21.   women/woman which is it Fadi Eyadat? go get a job with al jazeera 06:10  |  who`s the editor for 08/08/08
  22.   To all you naive anti-semites... 06:19  |  not 08/08/08
  23.   # MaryRose. Palestinian`s tax money held in Israel`s tight fist! 06:19  |  Maureen Ann 08/08/08
  24.   umm heres a point 06:39  |  vik 08/08/08
  25.   This is a new low for Israel??? 06:45  |  Joe 08/08/08
  26.   No one wants to return to Ham-ass in Gaza, 06:52  |  RW 08/08/08
  27.   #24 Vik. "A seven day visitor`s permit." 06:56  |  Maureen Ann 08/08/08
  28.   yes maureen 07:50  |  vik 08/08/08
  29.   RE:vik 08:01  |  housam 08/08/08
  30.   Israel Giving Medical Care to Enemy Nations 08:01  |  Proud Israeli 08/08/08
  31.   The hospital did good 08:31  |  rm 08/08/08
  32.   What a mess but thanks to those Israeli 09:11  |  Steve the Pals. 08/08/08
  33.   inhumane 09:28  |  jack 08/08/08
  34.   BBSNews 10:17  |  Purple Canary 08/08/08
  35.   34 Purple Canary 11:20  |  Aron 08/08/08
  36.   Aron I don`t think you know much English 11:46  |  x-ray 08/08/08
  37.   The husband`s view on our security is laughable 11:49  |  Margie in Tel Aviv 08/08/08
  38.   Free Medical Care for a non-citizen - would the US do that??? 12:18  |  Noa 08/08/08
  39.   I think it`s wonderful...... 13:18  |  David James Vickery 08/08/08
  40.   Maureen 15:14  |  Jazmine 08/08/08
  41.   Hey all you Israel bashers 16:07  |  BritBrit 08/08/08
  42.   To #1: an israeli in Australia, would be in jail for faking ID 16:36  |  Alain 08/08/08
  43.   gaza women gives birth 20:17  |  robin 08/08/08
  44.   Noa (#36) 21:01  |  democrat 08/08/08
  45.   4 Babies Born 14:40  |  KarenMarie 10/08/08
  46.   4 Babies Continued 14:49  |  KarenMarie 10/08/08
  47.   Vik if it were your sister? 11:16  |  jeremiah 11/08/08
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