RAFAH, Gaza Strip — Israeli prisons deprive Palestinian prisoners who are serving long or life sentences of the right to be alone with their wives. For that reason, many of them try to smuggle sperm out of prison to their wives to be used in in vitro fertilization (IVF). Wife of prisoner Mohammad al-Qedra, 35, who has been detained since the 2014 Israeli war on the Gaza Strip, gave birth in February using her husband’s sperm that was smuggled out of prison about nine months ago.

The Israeli army arrested Qedra in east Khan Yunis during the ground invasion of the 2014 war that lasted for 54 days. He was sentenced to 11 years in prison, of which he has already served seven. His family has been banned from visiting him for four years.

The Qedra family in al-Amal neighborhood in the west of Khan Yunis rejoiced at the news of the child’s birth, although the IVF conception was not welcomed by everyone at first. Qedra’s wife, Umm Mujahed, 32, told Al-Monitor, “We live in a conservative society and some of the family members objected to the idea while others supported it. The decision was ultimately my husband’s who agreed.”

She said, “But everyone is happy now, and they were all by my side when I gave birth at the hospital.”