Rafah, April 22 (RHC)-- The official death toll in Gaza has now topped 34,000, including more than 14,000 children -- as the barbaric and genocidali Israel war machine grinds on.

Over the weekend, Israeli strikes on Rafah killed at least 22 people, including 18 children.  One of the strikes killed a Palestinian man, his wife who was 30 weeks pregnant, and their 4-year-old daughter.

Doctors at a nearby hospital performed an emergency cesarean section on the dead mother and delivered her child. 

Dr. Mohammed Salama is the head of the neonatal intensive care unit at Al-Emirati Hospital in Rafah.

“The baby girl emerged into a tragic situation.  She came out and found herself an orphan directly, came into life without care.  As soon as she was born, she had a moderate to severe respiratory distress.  The name that we gave her: 'Baby of a martyr.'   And this is in itself a hard word, a tragic word.  Even as we write this name label, our hands tremble.  This situation is very difficult.”