As Wafaa al-Kurd approached delivery, she said she weighed less than before her pregnancy and was surviving on rice and artificial juice.
She gave birth to a nearly 6-pound baby girl named Tayma about two weeks ago, she said. Since then, her husband has spent his days scouring the markets of northern Gaza, where her family lives, trying to find enough food to breastfeed his wife and keep Taima alive.
According to the Gaza Ministry of Health, nearly 60,000 pregnant women in Gaza suffer from malnutrition, dehydration and lack of proper medical care. The ministry said in a statement Friday that around 5,000 women give birth in Gaza every month in “harsh, unsafe and unhealthy conditions as a result of shelling and evacuation.”
The ministry added that about 9,000 women, including thousands of mothers and pregnant women, have been killed since Israeli shelling and invasion began in early October.
The United Nations and aid agencies have warned that famine is looming in the besieged enclave, with health officials reporting that at least 25 people, mostly children, have died from malnutrition and dehydration in recent days. .
Dr. Deborah Harrington, an obstetrician at Al-Aqsa Hospital in central Gaza, says the pregnant women and newborns she treats often receive inadequate prenatal and postnatal care, putting both their lives and their babies at risk. He said he was exposed.
Dr. Harrington said some new mothers she spoke to said they were forced to give birth on the street, in shelters, or in cars because they couldn't safely get to the hospital in time. It is said that there were also
“Many of them are giving birth in unsafe conditions, without a midwife, in sanitary conditions, and without available life-saving resources,” she said.
The Global Nutrition Cluster, a group of aid agencies working in Gaza, said in a report last month that more than 90% of children under two and pregnant and breastfeeding women in both northern Gaza and the southern city of Rafah were seriously ill. It has become clear that many people are facing severe food poverty. .
Alkurd said her biggest craving during her pregnancy was tomatoes. Tomatoes were extremely scarce in northern Gaza. For her birthday in November, her husband Saleh decided to find something for her.
When he finally returned home a few hours later, carrying a bag of very expensive tomatoes from the only store that sold tomatoes, his wife said, “When I bought you a gold ring for your birthday last year.'' I was happier than before,” he said. he said by phone Friday.
Like Al Kurd, Aya Saada, who is seven months pregnant with her second child, said she had not been able to find fruit or vegetables to eat in recent months. She added that she doesn't always have access to filtered water. “She's always dizzy and nauseous and always tired,” said Saada, 23, who has been evacuated to a hospital in northern Gaza.
“During pregnancy, you are expected to gain weight,” Saada said in an audio message on Friday. “But in return, I'm losing weight,” she added.
Dr Harrington said vulnerable mothers give birth to weak babies and pregnant and breastfeeding mothers faced a particularly high risk of malnutrition.
“When you're malnourished, you're more likely to be anemic,” she says. “You end up lacking all kinds of micronutrients that you need to safely grow your baby.”
Pregnant women injured in bombings or infected with infectious diseases that are rapidly spreading across Gaza also face a much higher risk of miscarriage or stillbirth, Harrington added.
“If the mother is sick, the baby may also be sick, which increases the stillbirth rate,” she says. “Because the woman doesn't have prenatal care, she can't find the problem.”
Saada's biggest fear, that her baby would be born with health problems, was the only thing on her mind due to lack of nutritious food and clean water during her pregnancy. He said there was. “It's impossible to prepare for the birth of a baby,” she said. “We're just looking for something to eat right now.”
“The food I'm eating now is not healthy,” said Khoroud Saada, 34, who is nine months pregnant and sheltering with her four children in a school tent in northern Gaza. She is not related to Aya Saada. . “Right now, there is no healthy food on the market, no chicken or fish,” she said. “There are no foods suitable for pregnant women,” she added in her Friday audio message.
Rawan Sheikh Ahmad Contributed reporting from Haifa, Israel. Gaya gupta From New York.
