“I felt it could end with the death of me and my fetus. I was in a state of pain and terror.” This is the experience of Yasmeen Ahmed, a midwife at Al-Shifa Hospital, who was forced to deliver her own baby alone.
Her story reflects the ordeal of an estimated 55,000 pregnant women in Gaza, one-third of whom experience high-risk pregnancies. With 130 births daily, the healthcare collapse turns childbirth into a life-or-death crisis.
Midwives Becoming Surgeons with Knives
Sahar Adil Aql, another midwife, describes using a kitchen knife, sterilized over a fire, to cut an umbilical cord. Without gloves, she used scented tissue as a bandage. The lack of basic supplies is catastrophic.
The World Health Organization (WHO) warns that maternal mortality rates are rising sharply. Critical supplies for C-sections, anesthesia, antibiotics, and blood units are blocked or depleted.
Delivering Babies Under Drone Fire
Sahar recounts guiding a birth by phone from a distance, unable to reach the clinic due to heavy gunfire from quadcopters. Upon arrival, the baby was blue and needed resuscitation, but neonatal intensive care was unavailable.
In another tragic case, a mother died from postpartum hemorrhage because blood for a transfusion was impossible to find.
Facing Catastrophic Injuries with No Training
With most medical staff displaced, midwives like Yasmeen now treat severe war injuries—amputations and broken bones—far beyond their training. They rely on internet searches and consultations with any available doctor online.
This is the reality for Gaza’s mothers and the midwives fighting to save them, alone.
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