Gaza: WHO estimates 52,000 pregnant women in danger

The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates 52,000 pregnant women to be endangered by Israel’s war in Gaza, according to AFP on March 6th.
The announcement comes ahead of International Women’s Day on March 8th, as the health system in the besieged enclave faces complete collapse.
31-year-old Asmaa Ahmed told AFP that after being forced to flee her home, she gave birth in the middle of the night in a Gazan School without electricity.
The doctor purportedly worked by the light of a mobile phone, clamping the umbilical cord with whatever medical staff could find.
“I was very, very afraid to lose the baby,” she said, recounting how her son Faraj came into the world.
Even following successful delivery, new mothers are confronted with the immense challenge of keeping infants alive in Gaza without adequate access to food and water, nor heated tables for neonates and incubators.
The deteriorating conditions have struck fear into the hearts of pregnant women, like 21-year-old Malak Shabat who sought refuge in Rafah, southern Gaza after moving several times to escape Israeli air strikes.
“I’m so afraid of giving birth,” said Shabat, whose due date is fast approaching, with few available doctors and beds.
The war in Gaza was triggered by an October 7th, 2023, Hamas attack on southern Israel which killed 1,200 people, according to official Israeli figures. Israel’s retaliatory military campaign has killed at least 30,631 people, mostly women and children, according to the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza.
The health system has been devastated with no remaining fully functional hospitals, and just 12 of 36 working at some capacity, according to the UN.
Reuters reported that Gaza’s second largest Nasser hospital was put out of commission entirely on February 18th, due to fuel shortages and Israeli raids.
Restrictions enforced by Israel’s military have also severely limited aid entering Gaza.
The UN Population Fund (UNFPA) says it has 62 palettes of material to assist childbirth blocked outside Rafah on the border with Egypt.
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The Emirati maternity hospital in Rafah, where nearly 1.5 million Palestinians have sought refuge, has only five rooms dedicated to childbirth.
Raphael Pitti, a French doctor who recently completed an aid mission in southern Gaza, said such quick post-natal discharges are common place, stating: “When women give birth, they get back on their feet and their family comes to pick them up.”
Several women told AFP they were instructed to bring a mattress and sheets if they wanted to stay in hospital after giving birth, with others having to deliver on unhygienic hospital floors or in the street.
Pre-labour, many pregnant women have had their health, and that of the children they carry threatened by wartime shortages.
READ: UNRWA boss insists Gaza famine can still be avoided
The United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) claims that 95% of Gaza’s pregnant or breastfeeding women face “severe food poverty”.
AFP / Reuters