Pregnant women in Gaza say they are being forced to have c-sections by torchlight with no anaesthetic as bombardment continues

• READ MORE: Israel say they carried out airstrike that Hamas claim killed more than 50 people at Gaza’s Jabalia refugee camp

Pregnant women in Gaza are reportedly having to undergo c-section deliveries by torchlight and without anaesthetic in the beleaguered Strip as Israel’s devastating bombardment continues.

‘The chaos and horror unleashed in Gaza is affecting women in devastating ways,’ said Soraida Hussein-Sabbah, a gender and advocacy specialist at ActionAid UK, based in Ramallah, the West Bank.

‘Conditions in hospitals are dangerous, C-sections and major surgery is being performed with only the torch on a phone providing light as they undertake complex medical procedures as the bombs fall around them.’

Some 50,000 pregnant women live in the Gaza Strip and are among the vulnerable groups to suffer through shortages of medical equipment, food and water.

In Gaza, where more than half of the 2.1mn population are children, around 160 are expected to be born every day, according to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) – putting additional strain on the enclave’s crippled health system.

People mourn by the shrouded bodies at the morgue of Nasser Hospital on the 23rd day of Israeli airstrikes in Khan Yunis, Gaza on October 29, 2023

Relatives of the Palestinians who lost their lives after Israeli attacks mourn as the bodies are carried for burial from Indonesian Hospital on the 25th day Gaza City, on October 31, 2023

The United Nations previously reported a ‘race against death’ for pregnant women living in Gaza amid a ‘complete siege’ of the enclave and unrelenting airstrikes in response to Hamas’ October 7 incursion into southern Israel.

READ MORE: Israel say they carried out airstrike that Hamas claim killed more than 50 people at Gaza’s Jabalia refugee camp: ‘Dozens of bodies’ are recovered after site is reduced to giant crater – IDF claim their jets took out senior jihadi commander 

Their report claimed a pregnant woman was discharged just three hours after giving birth to a baby girl to make space for other arrivals.

One medical consultant in Khan Younis described the stress for pregnant women living through the war.

‘There are women who have been displaced from their places of residence to other areas, which means changing the health centres which had previously monitored their condition,’ Walid Abu Hatab told Al Jazeera. 

‘This makes access to them very difficult for them as they need primary care and follow-up sessions during the various periods of pregnancy.’ 

The United Nations Population Fund called for ‘urgent health care and protection’ for pregnant women as many suffered without regular check ups.

Tens of thousands of civilians have been forced to flee to hospitals in search of aid and power as resources to the strip were cut off – putting unprecedented strain on the centres.

‘Our medical teams are overwhelmed and have been working tirelessly around the clock since the start of the escalation,’ said Dr. Mohammad Abu Salmiya, the director of Al Shifa hospital. 

‘We’re relying on a very limited fuel supply to maintain our operations. If we run out of fuel, the hospital may be repurposed as a mass burial site.’ 

A small number of Palestinians injured in Gaza will be able to cross the southern Rafah border into Egypt on Wednesday to complete their treatment in Egyptian hospitals as the conflict continues with so sign of abating. 

‘Medical teams will be present tomorrow (Wednesday) at the crossing to examine the cases coming (from Gaza) as soon as they arrive… and determine the hospitals they will be sent to,’ a medical official in Egypt’s city of El Arish told AFP.

It comes as dozens more trucks carrying aid were allowed to enter Gaza, providing vital support to the civilian population amid heavy strikes from Israel. 

The White House on Tuesday said 66 trucks of humanitarian assistance had entered Gaza in the last 24 hours and that dozens more are expected to be cleared for deliveries.

Ayman Abou Chamalah stands next to his daughter Mecca, as she receives care inside an incubator at a hospital in Rafah on October 23, 2023

A woman holding a girl reacts after Israeli airstrikes hit Ridwan neighborhood of Gaza City, Gaza on October 23, 2023

Cyprus also said on Tuesday it was intensifying efforts to get concrete support to open a maritime corridor for the delivery of aid to war-torn Gaza from the eastern Mediterranean island.

President Nikos Christodoulides said he had spoken with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about the issue after raising it with European Union leaders last week.

‘Cyprus is ready to contribute to establishing a maritime corridor from Cypriot ports to deliver aid to Gaza,’ Christodoulides said.

‘Today, I will speak again with the prime minister of Israel, as well as with the heads of EU institutions and with the United States, to see how we proceed with implementing this initiative of the Republic of Cyprus,’ he added.

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