A first-time mother from Syria is happily cradling her newborn at the Ziv Medical Center in Safed (Tsfat), after giving birth to a healthy 2.6 kg girl at the Israeli medical facility on Tuesday (August 26, 2014). This is the seventh birth of a Syrian baby at the northern medical center.

“We have already treated a number of mothers and babies from Syria and we do so with devotion and love,” said Esther Ambar, the nurse in charge of the Neonatal Department at the Ziv Medical Center.

The latest new Syrian mother to give birth in Israel is a 25-year-old resident of Quneitra. She told the Israeli medical staff that fighting in the Quneitra area made her pregnancy very difficult. “Because of the war there is a shortage of food and there are no health and birthing facilities. I knew that I was already in my 40th week and that the birth was imminent and there was no one who could help me. I heard from relatives and friends that Syrian casualties are transferred to Israel where they receive good care,” she said.

When her water broke, the young woman asked family and friends to take her to the Israel-Syrian border. The IDF transferred her to hospital.

“I was anxious and afraid, but the Israeli nurses and doctors treated me with sensitivity and respect and the delivery went well. I am very happy that I came here, they are treating me nicely and taking care of me and my new baby,” she said.

Ambar, who lives on Kibbutz Ein-Zivan on the Golan Heights which only a few days ago was shelled by rockets from Syria, is helping the mother take care of her new daughter. “We live in a strange reality. On Sunday, we ran to our bomb-shelters when a number of rockets hit the ground close to the kibbutz, yesterday a number of mortar bombs were fired on this area and today we delivered a Syrian baby whose mother arrived from the region from which we were fired upon,” Ambar said. “We hear and see the fighting in Syria daily and we know that the population there is in great difficulty.

“Ordinary people are not interested in wars, the Syrian mothers who reach us relay stories of the difficulties they experience in their country and speak about their hope for peace and a better future for their children. Their gratitude is moving and we wish that this will be a bridge to a dialogue between us and them and a hope for peace and quiet in the region.”