A Gazan woman gave birth on Monday to twins conceived using sperm smuggled from her husband inside an Israeli prison, her family said.

The woman, who was not identified, reportedly named the twins Mutaz and Siwar.

Her 35-year-old husband, Ahmad al-Sakani, also known as Abu Tareq, was detained in 2002 and sentenced to 27 years in prison.

He was accused of being a member of the Islamic Jihad movement, the family said.

The couple’s elder son, Tareq, was killed in a car accident about a year ago on the way back from a conference where he spoke on behalf of prisoners’ children.

A Palestinian prisoners’ rights group, the Ahrar Center, said on Monday that it was aware of 30 other babies in the last two years that had been born through artificial insemination using sperm smuggled out of Israeli jails.

The Razan Medical Center for Infertility and IVF said in March that it knew of 35 such births.

The first reportedly took place in 2012, when Dalal al-Zein had a baby using sperm smuggled from her husband who had been jailed in Israel for 15 years.

Palestinian prisoners are denied conjugal visits by the Israeli Prison Service.

More than 5,000 Palestinians are currently being held in Israeli prisons.

(Ma’an – www.maannews.net)