Nadia Ma'touq, 36, and her husband Ziad Ma'touq, 43, are both recovering at the Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza after a seven-hour surgery for a kidney transplant. It is the first such transplant ever conducted in Gaza, and one that saved the life of Ziad, father of six children.

"Ziad suffered from a kidney complication six years ago, after he was hit with high blood pressure. Fifteen years ago, we discovered that Ziad had only one kidney. Throughout this time, he has been very cautious with regard to the type of food and drink, but his remaining kidney began to feel the negative effects of the blood pressure," Nadia told Al-Monitor, while surrounded by her mother-in-law and brother at the hospital.

Last summer, Nadia and Ziad, along with their mothers, went to Egypt in search of a hospital that would conduct a kidney transplant after Nadia decided to donate one of her kidneys to her husband.

"We prepared the needed papers and went to the Nasser Hospital Institute in Cairo. Yet for some technical reasons, we could not complete the surgery , so we moved to another Cairo hospital nearby, where the service was available. We were told that the surgery would cost $15,000, which we could not afford. Following a couple of months in Cairo, we returned back to Gaza with a great deal of disappointment," Nadia recalled.