The newborn baby, whose mother was shot dead two weeks ago by a Hamas terrorist, died of his injuries on Thursday.
Baby Ravid was born by Caesarean section after his mother, Tzeela Gez, was murdered by a terrorist gunman in Israel’s Samaria region. The couple was ambushed as they drove to a nearby hospital to deliver the child.
The Jerusalem Post noted that “the couple had been traveling to the hospital for the delivery when a terrorist opened fire from a passing vehicle using an automatic weapon.”
“Tzeela was hit and evacuated unconscious to Beilinson Hospital in Petah Tikva, where doctors performed emergency surgery in a bid to save the baby,” the newspaper added.
Baby’s father, 40-year-old Hananel, was also hurt in the attack and tried to stop his wife’s bleeding as she fought for her life.
Despite a two-week-long struggle by the medical staff to keep the baby alive, he sustained severe brain damage due to prolonged oxygen deprivation, new reports suggest. “Although doctors managed to revive the newborn shortly after delivery, his prospects were bleak from the beginning,” the newspaper Israel Hayom reported. “Prolonged time without oxygen had caused severe and likely irreversible harm. For two weeks, medical teams fought to stabilize and improve his condition.
The Israeli news website Arutz Sheva reported:
The Samaria Regional Council and the community of Bruchin on Thursday morning announced that Ravid Chaim, the infant born after his mother was shot dead by a terrorist earlier this month, has passed away at the hospital.Ravid Chaim was named Ravid honoring his mother’s wish, with the additional “Chaim” as a prayer that he survive despite the prenatal trauma.Days after his birth, the hospital reported a slight improvement in Ravid Chaim’s condition, though throughout his hospitalization in the NICU his condition continued to be serious but stable.Ravid Chaim’s mother, Tze’ela Gez Hy”d, was shot dead by terrorists from Burqin as she made her way with her husband Hananel to the delivery room.Hananel, who was also injured in the shooting, pulled over to the side of the road and called for help, while trying to stop Tze’ela’s bleeding and save her life.
Israeli security forces managed to locate and eliminate the shooter after a week-long manhunt. The attacker, identified later as a previously convicted Hamas terrorist, Nael Samara, “ran toward the soldiers holding a bag believed to be rigged with explosives and shouting at them. The soldiers opened fire and killed him,” the Israeli news website YNET reported.
The IDF continued to eliminate terrorists and dismantle Hamas infrastructure in Gaza as Operation Gideon’s Chariots entered its 25th day.
IDF troops “continue operational activity against terrorist organizations throughout the Gaza Strip,” the military said in a statement Thursday. “The troops dismantled weapons storage facilities and underground terrorist infrastructure. The troops also targeted sniper and observation posts, anti-tank missile posts, and additional military compounds.”
“Over the past day, the IAF struck dozens of terror targets throughout the Gaza Strip. Among the targets struck were terrorists, military structures, observation and sniper posts that posed a threat to IDF troops in the area, tunnels, and additional terrorist infrastructure sites,” the IDF added.
Israeli troops recently uncovered and destroyed a large Hamas tunnel in southern Gaza, media reports say. “The IDF says it recently demolished a Hamas attack tunnel during operations of the Gaza Division and the Yahalom combat engineering unit in the southern Gaza Strip,” The Times of Israel reported Thursday. “The tunnel was hundreds of meters long and had several exits, some of them rigged with explosives, the army says.”
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