A Gaza woman named Najwa Abu Hamada felt no sense of justice when a U.N. Commission of Inquiry cited the destruction of a fertility clinic among actions that it said showed Israel has committed genocide in Gaza. Instead, the commission’s findings revived painful memories in Abu Hamada of the embryos she had stored at Al-Basma IVF centre and lost when it was hit by Israeli forces in late 2023, said a Reuters report on Sep. 17.
Abu Hamada feels helpless and without a voice to protest as Israel’sgenocide in Gaza and death toll keeps rising.
“The genocide is not only targeting men, children and women, it is also targeting frozen fertility eggs – my only hope,” Abu Hamada said in Qatar, where she now lives. “Israel came and even carried out genocide which reached even the embryos that belong to me at Al Basma centre. What can compensate me?”
Abu Hamada has already had one child by using fertility procedures, and is still wondering if she can have another child at the age of 49. She and her husband Eyad spoke with her doctor BahaeldeenGhalayini, who established the Al Basma IVF centre, about the possibility of undergoing further fertility treatments. “The doctor told us don’t lose hope,” said her husband.
The couple had travelled to Qatar for fertility treatment before the Gaza war began. The loss of her embryos back home in Gaza dealt a huge blow to her hopes of having another child.