For Gaza Strip resident Amal Sobeih, May 7 was meant to be one of the happiest days of her life. Instead, it became a day marked forever by both joy and devastating loss.
On the morning her daughter was born, her husband, journalist Yahya Sobeih, was killed just hours after holding his newborn child for the first and last time.
Amal recalled that her husband rushed her to the hospital at around six in the morning as she went into labour amid the continuing war in Gaza, where Israeli military strikes and violence had become part of daily life.
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Despite the dangers surrounding them, the couple looked forward to welcoming their third child and first daughter, joining their two young sons, Baraa and Kenan.
Doctors later informed Amal that she needed an emergency caesarean section, but the delivery was successful and both mother and baby were healthy.
“It was a perfect day at the beginning,” Amal recalled. “The delivery went quickly, the baby was healthy, and everyone was happy.”
According to Amal, Yahya was overwhelmed with joy after seeing his daughter for the first time.
“He carried his daughter and kept telling everyone, ‘My beautiful princess is here,’” she said.
The proud father spent hours beside his wife and newborn baby. He checked on them constantly, recited the Islamic call to prayer into his daughter’s ears, took photographs, and welcomed relatives who came to celebrate the birth.
Before leaving the hospital, Yahya told Amal he would return shortly after checking on their two sons at home and bringing supplies for the newborn.
“He asked me to rest and take care of myself,” Amal said. “He said he would come back so we could choose a name together.”
But he never returned.
“Unfortunately, I did not know that would be the last time we would ever see Yahya,” she said.
Yahya Sobeih, who worked as a journalist in Gaza, was killed approximately five hours after the birth of his daughter. Earlier that same day, he had shared photographs on social media showing himself proudly holding the newborn in his arms.
His death has added to the growing number of journalists killed during the war in Gaza, where media workers continue to operate under extremely dangerous conditions while documenting the conflict.
The tragedy has sparked widespread emotional reactions online, with many describing the story as one of the most heartbreaking human accounts to emerge from the war.
For Amal, however, the pain is deeply personal. What began as a day of celebration ended in unimaginable grief, a newborn daughter arriving in the world on the very day her father was taken from it.