Pregnant women in Gaza face a traumatic time without access to healthcare and worry about their unborn children in a conflict zone

In the midst of the intensifying Israel-Hamas confrontation, pregnant women in the Gaza Strip have voiced worry about the region’s hospitals, which are hardly operating, and its “almost gone” medical services. Additionally, CNN stated that Allen from the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) called the tales of pregnant women he heard from Gaza “harrowing.”

Imagine going through that process in the final stages and last trimester before giving birth, with potential complications, without clothing, without hygiene, without support, and not knowing what the next day, the next hour, or the next minute will bring for yourself and your unborn child, Allen said in a statement.

These expectant mothers in Gaza are living at a time of conflict with inadequate nourishment and no access to healthcare as a result of Israel’s order to leave the northern half of the area. However, everyone has found the evacuation difficult, even the elderly, pregnant women, and those who are ill.

Eight-months pregnant Khulood Khaled made the decision to leave her house in the al-Karama neighborhood of the northern Gaza Strip after the evacuation call after hearing Israeli bombings.

She eventually arrived at Khan Younis in the south, but she is now living on “a dry piece of bread” due to a lack of food supply, power, and water in the region. She said, “I don’t know whether the bread will be ready tomorrow.

Khulood said that when it is time for her to give birth, she won’t know where to go.

“I’m afraid. For myself, my son, and my unborn kid,” she told CNN. I don’t want to pass away. I want to see my kid develop.however this place is completely lifeless. Gaza is now a deserted city.

Nardeen Fares, another expecting mother, and her husband drove the approximately 16-mile (or 40-minute) distance from Gaza City’s al-Rimal neighborhood to Khan Younis. Fares claimed she was worried about her baby’s future since her due date is getting closer.

“Currently, there is a mass migration…Khan Younis would house half of the Gaza Strip, Fares said CNN via phone.

Fares is also worried that if she goes into labor, Khan Younis’ hospitals won’t be able to care for her.

Health officials in the Hamas-run enclave report that an Israeli attack on a hospital in Gaza City on Tuesday resulted in the deaths of hundreds of people. Over 300 people were killed in the explosion at Al-Ahli al-Arabi Hospital, according to the Gaza civil defense head who spoke on Al-Jazeera television.

At least 500 fatalities were first reported, according to a Gaza Health Ministry source. Both departments are under the control of the Hamas-led administration, according to Reuters.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesperson, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, has said that the claims of a potential Israeli attack targeting a hospital in Gaza are still being investigated.

According to the news outlet i24NEWS, the IDF’s preliminary investigation reveals that the explosion at the hospital in Gaza was brought on by a botched Hamas missile fire.