KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip — An urgent Gaza DNA test is being sought after one of 11 Palestinian toddlers returned from Egypt at the end of March was claimed by more than one family, turning a rare homecoming into a painful fight over identity in a territory where war has shattered medical records and crippled forensic capacity. The dispute appears to trace back to the chaotic evacuation of premature babies from Al Shifa Hospital in November 2023, leaving relatives and investigators without the scientific proof needed to settle the case, April 22, 2026.
Reuters reported that the children were among 29 preterm babies evacuated from Al Shifa to Egypt during the early months of the war and that 11 of them were finally returned to Gaza in a U.N.-organized mission after more than two years of separation from their families. The report said seven of the evacuated infants later died in Egypt, underscoring how fragile their condition was when they were taken out.
The emotional reunions were not universal. ABC News reported that doctors examining the children said at least one toddler became the subject of confusion over identity, with more than one person claiming the child and no DNA testing available inside Gaza to confirm who the boy belongs to.
Why the Gaza DNA Test matters now
The urgency has only grown as more details emerge. Al Jazeera reported that one claimant, Mohammed Lubbad, believes the returned boy is his son and says he is ready to accept any result if a DNA test is carried out. The same report said police investigators pointed to an identification bracelet suggesting the child was registered to another family, but also said records from Kamal Adwan Hospital were lost and that the original registration could not be treated as conclusive without scientific evidence.
That makes a Gaza DNA test more than a medical formality. It is now the only credible way to resolve custody, restore confidence in official records and spare both families from living indefinitely with doubt. In a place where so many people have been displaced, killed or separated, certainty itself has become a humanitarian need.
UNICEF said its child protection teams were present for the toddlers’ return and that documentation and procedures were reviewed before reunifications were completed. Even so, the disputed case shows how hard it is to rebuild family links when the original paper trail was created during bombardment, emergency transfer and hospital collapse.
How the dispute over the returned toddler unfolded
According to the accounts now in circulation, the contested child was born during one of the most chaotic phases of the war, when hospitals were under extreme pressure, families were scattered and newborns were being moved for survival rather than orderly record-keeping. That likely saved lives, but it also left room for devastating uncertainty once the surviving children came home.
If a test can be arranged, the outcome may be painful for one family and relieving for the other. But without one, both families remain trapped in limbo, and the child at the center of the dispute risks growing up amid unanswered questions about his name, his parents and his legal identity.
Background on the babies evacuated to Egypt
The roots of the case go back to the November 2023 crisis at Al Shifa Hospital. A WHO-led mission said 31 infants were evacuated from the hospital on Nov. 19, 2023, after power shortages and security risks put their lives in immediate danger. The next day, Reuters reported that 28 of those premature babies were moved into Egypt for urgent treatment. What was an emergency rescue then has now become, in at least one case, a test of whether Gaza still has any reliable way to prove who belongs to whom.
Until samples can be processed outside Gaza or DNA equipment becomes available inside the enclave, the dispute is unlikely to end cleanly. For one toddler who survived war, evacuation and years of separation, the journey home is still unfinished.
