Doctors witnessed an extremely rare birth as conjoined twins were born in Gaza City's al-Shifa Medical Centre on Tuesday at 11:00 AM local time. The twins, whose gender has not yet been revealed, are the first such case in many years. They have two heads and two hearts, which beat simultaneously, but have one set of arms and legs. Due to their condition, the twins have a slim chance of surviving and are currently under intensive life support. Dr. Allam Abu Hamda, the head of the nursery at al-Shifa Medical, made clear just how rare this type of birth is.

Although the condition is extremely rare, these twins are not the first set of conjoined siblings ever delivered in Gaza. Conjoined girls named Rital and Ritaj were born in the region on March 27 2010, but died shortly after being rushed to Saudi Arabia for specialist treatment. About half of conjoined twins are delivered stillborn, and the overall survival rate of is between 5 and 25 percent.