Gaza baby
Shayma was saved by doctors after her mother was killed by an Israeli airstrike in Deir al-Balah Reuters

A Palestinian baby girl has been delivered from the womb of her mother who was killed in an Israeli attack in Gaza.

The 23-year-old woman died after an airstrike hit her house in the central Gaza town of Deir al-Balah.

"Her pregnant mother was brought here and when we checked the foetus it was alive, so the doctors did fast surgery and brought the baby out breathing," Doctor Wajdi Kisht told Reuters.

"She is in a serious condition. She is alive --using the machines --and we hope she will be better so she can be moved to her grandmother who was crying and saying that she wants to see the baby after the mother's death."

Kisht added that the baby's father was also killed.

Dr Fadi Al-Khrote, who was part of the team of medics who saved the baby, told Al-Jazeera the child was a "miracle" as the woman had been clinically dead for ten minutes before the operation finished.

The "miracle" baby has been named Shayma.

Shayma was rescued by doctors while Israel Defence Forces' (IDF) ground invasion of Gaza continues to claim lives, with more than 1,030 Palestinians, mostly civilians, killed so far.

The Israeli death toll stands at 43 soldiers and one civilian.

Gaza ground invasion constitutes an expansion of the existing IDF's Operation Protective Edge, launched on 8 July to restore calm in southern Israel after the firing of more than 150 rockets from Gaza into the country.

The UN called for an "immediate and unconditional humanitarian ceasefire" on Monday as Muslims started celebrating Eid ul-Fitr, which marks the end of Ramadan.

Related