As Israel’s bombs kill some infants, the shock and the stress takes the lives of some others

This story is taken from a report published in HamMihan newspaper, on June 19th 2025

A week after they initiated this conflict, Israel is still targeting residential areas and civilian targets in Tehran and other cities. While there have been infants among the casualties of the attacks, some are passing away from the shock of the sounds and from stresses of war, healthcare workers tell HamMihan.

“Almost no infants who came here had any vital signs, or they have passed away from their injuries after a few days.” A doctor says. There have also been reports of children and infants having seizures and eventually passing away.

These deaths, along with grueling hours and the stress of attacks, are taking its toll on healthcare workers, but HamMihan’s reporter observes they are going about their work like runners in a relay race. All time-offs have been canceled, all units other than emergency services have evacuated and non-emergency surgeries have also been cancelled.

Meysam, a nurse in Tehran says they had received an infant the night before, having a seizure because of the sound of bombs. He says that infant passed away today.

Mohammad, a doctor in Zahedan says most of the patients are going to the hospital because of stress, pregnant women bearing the brunt of it. “Aside from the usual work, part of our job has become reducing the stress levels of our compatriots.”

Ramin, a nurse in Shiraz talks about the long shifts they’ve had to take. “We’ve been constantly on our feet for multiple nights now. Sometimes we make jokes to distract our patients. That’s all we can do to deal with the psychological pressures they’re under.” Another nurse reports “our colleagues are more worried after we heard Israel’s hit a hospital.”

Farhood, another doctor from Tehran says they have also evacuated everyone except the emergency staff, for safety reasons.

Masoomeh, a nurse in Mazandaran, a northern province, says the war still hasn’t reached there “but we see clear signs of stress in new mothers here, like many of them having issues breastfeeding.”

Sedigheh Yousefzadegan, a pediatric specialist and a professor at Tehran’s Medical Sciences University talks about the high mortality rate among the children and infants showing up as a result of these attacks. None of the children who showed up with injuries from the bombings have survived, she says. “Children come here with damages to their bone and heads, with severe injuries they don’t survive. As far as I know, there have been many children buried under the rubbles.”

Some of her and her coworkers’ patients have left Tehran “but we gave them our personal phone numbers to ensure their treatment continues.”

The hospitals in Iran also reports receiving a lot of patients who have no identification, likely because they were hit when they were at home, sleeping next to their families.

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