Women are being rushed out of Gaza’s hospitals mere hours after giving birth to cater to casualties of Israel’s attack on Gaza, a new report by Human Rights Watch (HRW) has revealed, as hundreds of pregnant women and babies are being placed in “life-threatening danger.”
The report accused Israel of violating the rights of pregnant women and girls, including the right to dignified care in pregnancy, childbirth, and the postpartum period, as well as the right to newborn care.
First covered by Al Jazeera, the report, published this week, noted the combination of Israeli forces’ attacks on health facilities and their targeting of healthcare workers as contributing to severe restrictions on the flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza.
In recent weeks, UNICEF reported the deaths of eight infants and newborns from hypothermia due to the continued lack of basic shelter combined with winter temperatures.
Currently, Gaza’s women have severely limited access to emergency obstetric and newborn care, while all medical facilities are facing “unsanitary and overcrowded conditions” along with a shortage of essential healthcare supplies such as medicine and vaccines.
Meanwhile, medical workers, are “hungry, overworked and at times under military attack”, as they “try to triage and attend to the many victims of attacks, while also addressing increasing cases of water-borne and other communicable diseases,” the report adds.
HRW noted the little information available “on the survival rate of newborns or the number of women experiencing severe morbidities or dying during pregnancy, while giving birth, or postpartum,” adding that in July last year, maternal health experts reported the rate of miscarriage in Gaza had soared to 300 percent since October 7, 2023.
Pregnant women reported suffering from dehydration with some saying they are unable to wash themselves throughout their pregnancy.
“The lack of access to adequate nutrition, water, and sanitation has serious health consequences, particularly for pregnant women and girls and their children,” the report concluded.
“Many health conditions may be caused or significantly worsened by such deprivation, including anemia, eclampsia, hemorrhage and sepsis, all of which can be fatal without proper medical treatment, which has been very hard to access in some parts of Gaza.”