“It’s an immeasurable political failure that this war has ground on for nine months – the same time it has taken for a mother to survive a full-term pregnancy, or for a baby to learn to crawl.”
An estimated 50,000 babies have been born in the Gaza Strip over nine months of conflict, with some women self-inducing labor to avoid giving birth on the move while others are scared to seek vital prenatal care because of fears of bombing, according to the Save the Children organization.
Many women are “giving birth in traumatic, unhygienic and undignified conditions without access to basic services,” and some have lost their lives due to a lack of access to doctors, the organization said earlier this week.
“We’ve seen the continuous stress and misery taking a toll on women, with some making drastic choices such as self-inducing labor using medication out of fear they might lose their babies if they have to flee again for survival,” Sharifa Khan, a midwife with Save the Children’s Emergency Unit said.
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Khan said one woman was rushed to the maternity unit with serious obstetric complications after self-medicating before term.
“The medication caused her uterus to overstretch and rupture, leading to severe bleeding and a distressed fetus,” she explained.
While the team was able to manage the case, had the mother been delayed by just a few minutes in reaching the maternity unit, “the baby’s life could have been lost or the baby could have been born with disabilities due to prolonged lack of circulation. The woman might have lost her life too.”
Untreated Infections
The midwife mentioned another mother who delivered her child safely and was discharged the following day.
However, she was back three days later when her baby was lethargic, had a high temperature, was refusing to breastfeed, and had a swollen umbilical cord that was discharging pus.
“This condition is only common in places with poor hygiene and a lack of clean water. It can be life-threatening if untreated as the infection can spread to the bloodstream,” Khan emphasized. “Unfortunately, this is not an isolated case.”
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Pregnant women were facing significant challenges, including a lack of food and clean water, frequent displacement, the traumatic loss of loved ones, and the fear of injury or death.
One mother reported to Save the Children that she had not eaten meat for five months of her pregnancy and lost weight in the final months before giving birth.
In addition, power blackouts pose extreme risks to critically ill babies, including those in incubators.
Premature Labor
“The Gaza we see today is no place for a child to be born. We know that prolonged exposure to stress and trauma, coupled with substandard medical facilities, can lead to premature labour and death of newborns,” Rachel Cummings, Save the Children’s Team Leader in Gaza, said.
She added, “It’s an immeasurable political failure that this war has ground on for nine months – the same time it has taken for a mother to survive a full-term pregnancy, or for a baby to learn to crawl.”
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Any woman who has become pregnant during this time “will have only known fear, trauma, deprivation, and displacement,” the team leader added.
“Any mother who has given birth will have done so lacking the critical support all women need to deliver safely. And any baby born – who manages to survive these conditions – will only have known war,” she stressed.
Cummings called for “an immediate and definitive ceasefire as the only way to save lives in Gaza and end the relentless, serious violations of children’s rights. There is no alternative.”
Over 38,000 Killed
Currently on trial before the International Court of Justice for genocide against Palestinians, Israel has been waging a devastating war on Gaza since October 7.
According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, 38,243 Palestinians have been killed, and 88,033 wounded. Moreover, at least 11,000 people are unaccounted for, presumed dead under the rubble of their homes throughout the Strip.
Israel says that 1,200 soldiers and civilians were killed during the Al-Aqsa Flood Operation on October 7. Israeli media published reports suggesting that many Israelis were killed on that day by ‘friendly fire’.
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Palestinian and international organizations say that the majority of those killed and wounded are women and children.
The Israeli war has resulted in an acute famine, mostly in northern Gaza, resulting in the death of many Palestinians, mostly children.
The Israeli aggression has also resulted in the forceful displacement of nearly two million people from all over the Gaza Strip, with the vast majority of the displaced forced into the densely crowded southern city of Rafah near the border with Egypt – in what has become Palestine’s largest mass exodus since the 1948 Nakba.
Later in the war, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians began moving from the south to central Gaza in a constant search for safety.
(The Palestine Chronicle)
