:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/Hoda-kotb-cries-savannah-gutherie-secret-santa-today-show-122624-5c3f5353534f4001aaadaa57102a21da.jpg "Hoda Kotb fights tears opening Savannah Guthrie’s gift on ‘Today’")
As the fierce war on the Gaza Strip continues for 29 consecutive days, pregnant Palestinian women face miscarriages and premature births, in the Strip, where hospitals have not been spared from Israeli bombing.
These pregnant women suffer from a lack of beds, doctors, and good pre- and post-natal medical care, due to the Israeli war.
Doctor Abdel Hakim Shehata, a gynecologist and obstetrician, says that since the beginning of the aggression on the Gaza Strip, a large number of women have suffered premature births and many miscarriages due to fear and panic as a result of the ongoing Israeli bombing of Gaza.
The suffering of pregnant women
Al-Shifa Medical Complex in Gaza City directed the obstetric service to Al-Hilu International Hospital (private), because it received large numbers of war-wounded people and thousands of displaced people crowded into the hospital.
Pregnant women in the Gaza Strip suffer from a lack of beds, doctors, and good pre- and post-natal medical care, due to the Israeli war.
Speaking to Anatolia, Palestinian Islam Hamdan, who lives in the town of Beit Hanoun, where her sister is about to give birth, said at Al-Hilu International Hospital in Gaza City, “We had difficulty moving from Beit Hanoun at night because of the war on Gaza.”
She added, “My sister wanted to give birth. We went to more than one health center and hospital and faced bombing. We settled in Al-Hilu International Hospital, after we were transferred from more than one center.”
She continued by saying, “We lived through terrifying scenes. There are no hospitals, no safety, no schools, and no safe place here,” noting that it was time for her sister to give birth, but due to fear as a result of the war and Israeli bombing, the birth was complicated.
Islam explained, “There are many cases of miscarriage and childbirth among women who are unable to reach hospitals due to the bombing.”
“We are having difficulty finding water, bread, and going to the bathroom,” she said, calling on the world to stand with Gaza.
Premature birth and miscarriage due to panic
In turn, Dr. Abdel Hakim Shehata, who holds the position of caretaker of Al-Hilu Hospital, told Anadolu Agency, “Since the beginning of the aggression on Gaza, a large number of women have had premature births and many miscarriages, which are caused by fear and panic.”
He added, “Women go to give birth in Al-Helu Hospital because Al-Shifa Hospital cannot bear the heavy burden, in light of the influx of injured people as a result of the war and Israeli bombing.”
He continued: “We are in a state of war and there is a ground invasion of the Gaza Strip. We lack everything in the field of medicine.”
He pointed out that “the hospital operates with a small number of doctors because doctors from the northern regions and Gaza City are heading to the south of the Strip.”
50 thousand pregnant women in Gaza without services
The United Nations Population Fund in Palestine revealed that pregnant women in the Gaza Strip are unable to obtain basic health services.
The Fund added in a statement – previously published – on the “X” platform, that “50,000 pregnant women in the Gaza Strip cannot obtain health services, 5,500 of whom will give birth during the month of October.”
The Fund stressed that women “need urgent health care and protection,” and urged all parties to “abide by their obligations under international humanitarian law and international human rights law.”
Health disaster
The Palestinian Ministry of Health says that Gaza Strip hospitals are suffering from a shortage of fuel, medicines and medical supplies as a result of the Israeli war on the Strip.
Yesterday, Friday, Palestinian Minister of Health, Mai Al-Kaila, warned of a humanitarian catastrophe that might occur in the next few hours as a result of the main electricity generators stopping due to running out of fuel in the Al-Shifa Medical Complex, in a statement distributed to the media.
She explained that 16 out of 35 hospitals in Gaza have stopped working as a result of the Israeli bombing and fuel depletion, and another number are at risk of being out of service within less than 24 hours.
The spokesman for the Ministry of Health in Gaza, Ashraf Al-Qudra, also warned of a “health catastrophe” due to the cessation of the main electrical generator in the Indonesian Hospital (north), and the imminent cessation of the main generator in the Al-Shifa Medical Complex in Gaza.
Martyrdom of women and children
For 29 days, the Israeli army has been waging a war on the Gaza Strip, resulting in the death and injury of thousands of Palestinians, most of them civilians, and causing a catastrophic humanitarian situation, according to warnings issued by international institutions.
According to the latest statistics from government media in Gaza, the death toll from the war rose to 9,227 martyrs, including 3,826 children and 2,405 women, in addition to 23,000 injured, and more than 2,000 missing.
