Quadruple surprise: Israeli hospital witnesses rare birth

(Israel Hayom) Quadruplets were delivered on Sunday at Beilinson Medical Center in Petah Tikva, Israel. The 35-year-old mother, already a parent to two children, conceived naturally with minimal medical intervention.

The newborns—two boys and two girls—entered the world with weights ranging from 2.95 to 3.57 pounds. Medical staff promptly transferred all four infants to the neonatal intensive care unit for close monitoring and specialized care.

Quadruplet births are exceedingly uncommon, occurring in roughly one out of every 720,000 deliveries. In Israel, where annual births hover around 180,000, statisticians would predict a natural quadruplet birth only once every three to four years.

Advanced reproductive technologies have slightly increased these odds, with Israel now averaging one to two sets of quadruplets annually. To put this in perspective, twins appear in about 5% of births, while triplets occur in just 0.1%. The extreme rarity of quadruplet births turns each occurrence into a headline-grabbing event, captivating both medical professionals and the public alike.

Prior to this birth, Israel’s most recent quadruplets were welcomed in 2022 at Sheba Medical Center.