Conjoined twin sisters who share a heart born in West Bank

The sisters' father has launched an urgent search for funds to pay for their surgical separation abroad, with doctors saying it might be doable in Saudi Arabia.

Conjoined newborn twins, Acil and Hadil, receive treatment at a maternity hospital in the West Bank city of Hebron on March 16, 2017. Hazem Bader / AFP

HEBRON // A Palestinian woman gave birth on Thursday to conjoined twin sisters who share a heart, her husband said, as he launched an urgent search for funds to pay for their surgical separation abroad.

“My wife and my two daughters are in hospital and doctors say they are all in good health,” Anwar Zyadat said in the Israeli-occupied West Bank city of Hebron.

“The operation that will allow them to be separated is impossible in Palestine, but doctors tell us that it might be doable in Saudi Arabia.”

The two sisters, Acil and Hadil, who are joined at the waist, share a single heart and circulatory system, according to medics.

The operation, which would require the girls to reach Saudi Arabia through Jordan, is “very expensive”, Mr Zyadat said.

“We don’t know who can help, perhaps private donors, though no one has approached us so far,” added the father of 10.

Many Palestinians receive medical treatment outside of the West Bank, most often in Israel. Much of the costs are passed on to the Palestinian Authority.

Last year conjoined twin sisters were born in the Gaza Strip but they did not survive.

* Agence France-Presse