Israeli strike destroys thousands of frozen IVF embryos in Gaza

In December, a shell from Israel hit a big clinic in Gaza following an explosion that knocked the lids off five tanks holding liquid nitrogen in the corner of the unit that deals with making babies.

As the extremely cold liquid turned into gas, the temperature in the tanks went up and ruined over 4,000 embryos, as well as 1,000 sperm and unfertilized eggs stored at Al Basma IVF center in Gaza City.

The explosion had a big effect and showed how much the 2.3 million people in Gaza have been hurt by Israel’s six-and-a-half-month attack.

The tiny babies in the tanks were the only chance for many Palestinian couples who couldn’t have children.

“We understand how important these 5,000 lives were to their parents, whether it was for their future or their past,” said Bahaeldeen Ghalayini, 73. He is a doctor who trained at Cambridge and set up the clinic in 1997.

At least half of the couples who can’t make babies anymore won’t have another chance to have a baby, he said.

“My heart is broken into so many pieces,” he said.

Reuters asked the Israeli military about the incident on Wednesday, and they said they are checking the reports. Israel says they did not mean to damage civilian buildings and accused Hamas of using hospitals for fighting, but Hamas disagrees.

Seba Jaafarawi went through three years of fertility treatment, and it was really tough on her emotions. Getting her eggs taken out of her ovaries hurt a lot, the hormone shots made her feel really sick, and it was really hard to handle the sadness when she couldn’t get pregnant two times.

Jaafarawi, who is 32 years old, and her husband couldn’t have a baby on their own. They decided to try in vitro fertilization (IVF), a method to help people have babies, that is easily found in Gaza.

Many families in the enclave are big, with almost half the people being under 18 years old. The fertility rate is high at 3. 38 births per woman, as reported by the Palestinian Bureau of Statistics. The average number of babies a woman has in Britain is 1. 63

Even though many people in Gaza are poor, some couples who can’t have a baby on their own are trying IVF. They are even selling their TVs and jewelry to pay for the treatment, according to Al Ghalayini.
No time for partying or enjoying.

At least nine hospitals in Gaza helped women have babies using IVF. They collect eggs from the woman and fertilize them with sperm in a lab. The fertilized eggs, called embryos, are usually frozen and stored until they are ready to be put into a woman’s uterus at the best time. Many frozen embryos in Gaza were kept at the Al Basma centre.

In September, Jaafarawi got pregnant for the first time with the help of IVF.

“I didn’t even have time to party when I heard the news,” she said.

Hamas attacked on the Oct, just two days before her ultrasound appointment. Seven attacks happened in Israel, and 1,200 people were killed. Also, 253 people were taken hostage, as per Israeli records.

Israel promised to defeat Hamas and started a big attack that has killed over 33,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health officials.

Jaafarawi was concerned about how she would go through her pregnancy. She was worried about what would happen to her and to the babies growing inside her womb.

Her ultrasound appointment was cancelled and Ghalayini shut down his clinic, where five more of Jaafarawi’s embryos were kept.

As the Israeli attacks got worse, Mohammed Ajjour, the main scientist at Al Basma, began to worry about running out of liquid nitrogen for the five specimen tanks. Every month, the tanks need to be filled up to keep the temperature below -180C. They don’t use electricity to work.

After the war started, Ajjour got one delivery of liquid nitrogen. But Israel stopped the electricity and fuel to Gaza, and many suppliers closed.

In late October, Israeli tanks went into Gaza, and soldiers surrounded the streets near the IVF center. It became too unsafe for Ajjour to inspect the tanks.

Jaafarawi needed to rest to keep her pregnancy safe, but it was hard because there were dangers everywhere. She had to climb six flights of stairs to her apartment because the elevator wasn’t working. A bomb destroyed the building next door and broke the windows in her flat. It was also difficult to find enough food and water.

Instead of taking a break, she felt anxious.

“I was really scared and it seemed like I might lose the baby,” she said.

Jaafarawi had a small amount of blood come out of her body after she and her husband left their home and moved to the southern town of Khan Younis. The bleeding stopped, but she was still very scared.
‘5,000 people in one place’

But a few days later, she had strong stomach pains, bleeding, and her belly felt different. She got to the hospital, but she was already having a miscarriage.

“I can still hear the sounds of me crying and screaming at the hospital,” she said.

She said only people who have gone through IVF really know how difficult it is, no matter what I imagine or tell you.

Jaafarawi wanted to go back to the place where there is fighting, get her frozen embryos and try to get pregnant again using IVF.

Ghalayini said that one shell from Israel hit the corner of the center and exploded the ground-floor embryology lab. He doesn’t know if the attack was aimed at the lab or not.

“He said 5,000 lives were lost from one bomb. ”

In April, the embryology lab was still a mess with broken walls, damaged lab equipment, and liquid nitrogen tanks scattered among the rubble. This information was gathered by a journalist hired by Reuters who went to the lab.

The covers were off and you could still see a basket at the bottom of one of the tanks. The basket was full of small straws of different colors with damaged tiny embryos inside.