A seriously ill Palestinian baby has been given the chance to live after he received a heart transplant from a Jewish child.

Doctors at Sheba Hospital in Ramat Gan performed the surgery on six-month-old Musa, who was born with a range of life-threatening conditions, in what is believed to be the hospital’s first heart transplant on a child so young.

The baby was transferred to the Israeli hospital after doctors in the West Bank city of Ramallah struggled to treat his medical problems. His heart went into failure three weeks ago.

Dr David Mishaly, chief surgeon at Sheba’s paediatric and congenital heart surgery unit, told the Jewish News: “There were several miracles associated with this complicated surgery.

“There is no such thing in the Palestinian Authority as in organ donor waiting list.”

He said that Musa was only able to receive the transplant because the parents of a Jewish child who had just died agreed to the donation.

The fact Musa survived the surgery was “a miracle in itself,” Dr Mishaly said, adding that the mixed team of Arab and Jewish surgeons owed a debt of gratitude to the parents of the 17-month-old child, who died after a chronic illness.