Everything’s a target: Israel’s war on reproductive health in Gaza

The destruction of Gaza’s healthcare system has placed reproductive health under unprecedented threat. Israel has decimated hospitals and healthcare infrastructure, and restricted access to reproductive and maternal care. This has left Palestinian women without the support they need to sustain life.

The war on reproductive health has been allowed to continue under the farcical “ceasefire” announced in October 2025. Meanwhile, women have nowhere to turn.

Reproductive violence

Pregnant women are moving between overcrowded shelters, sleeping in tents, or damaged buildings. Nothing is guaranteed, not even their next meal or when they may go into labour, and epidurals are largely unavailable. Ultimately, there is no safe pregnancy in Gaza.

The very few maternity wards that exist are overwhelmed; tackling dwindling fuel supplies and severe medicine shortages. Even basic items such as laboratory equipment and surgical tools are absent. These are withheld by the occupation whose punitive mindset dictates what enters the Gaza Strip.

The situation has become indescribably difficult for pregnant women. They are increasingly vulnerable in the face of circumstances far beyond their control. Women who should be receiving routine antenatal care are barely able to survive. In addition, they can barely access a maternity ward on foot or by vehicle. 

Describing the macabre situation, a new report, Pregnancy Under Siege, states:

the line between survivable and lethal has been erased by deprivation.

The Palestinian Return Centre (PRC)-commissioned report added that complications which are entirely treatable are now becoming fatal. This is because there is no possibility of treatment.

4,000 miscarriages in just six months

The first six months of 2026 witnessed 4,000 miscarriages and the destruction of 1,825 health facilities. Hospitals have been brought to their knees. Only 20 of 37 hospitals remain partially functional, Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP) has reported.

Pregnancies are risky enough without a live-streamed genocide. Making matters worse, Israel has targeted roads leading to and from hospitals. Moreover, ambulances are repeatedly targeted despite their protected status under international law.

Travelling to hospitals has become a life-threatening risk under such violence, daily and unrelenting. Many women are going into labour without skilled medical assistance, and routine pregnancy monitoring has largely disappeared for expectant mothers.

Without early diagnosis, conditions that are normally manageable can claim both the mother and baby’s life.

Cesarean sections make up half of all deliveries

Almost half of all deliveries in Gaza are now by caesarean section. This is exceptionally high is compounded by the fact that women are arriving at hospital dangerously late. Often, they arrive in critical condition if at all.

The challenges rarely end with delivery. Women recovering from c-sections are often discharged within hours because hospitals urgently need beds, Amnesty International has found. Many return to overcrowded camps with no privacy, limited access to clean water or postnatal care. As a result, the risk of infection and other complications increases.

Newborns also face severe risks. Around 70 percent are born prematurely or underweight, placing enormous pressure on hospitals already struggling with shortages of incubators, oxygen supplies and specialist equipment. Persistent shortages of medicines and repeated disruptions to essential services further undermine their chances of survival.

The dangers are not only physical. The PRC report warns that the psychological toll of Israel’s actions in Gaza may have lifelong consequences for both mothers and their children.

Constant fear of air strikes, repeated displacement and the trauma of losing loved ones place extraordinary psychological strain on pregnant women. Research has consistently linked prolonged maternal stress with higher risks of miscarriage, premature birth and restricted foetal growth. These are outcomes that Gaza’s healthcare workers confront daily.

60 percent of Gaza’s pregnant women are anaemic

Gaza’s humanitarian crisis, intentionally manufactured by the Israeli occupation, has left pregnant women severely malnourished. Almost 60 percent have developed anaemia due to poor nutrition. This is further exacerbated by worsening health conditions and a lack of supplements.

According to the latest Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) analysis, Gaza remains at critical risk of famine, with around 25,000 pregnant and breastfeeding women expected to require urgent nutritional support.

Recent UN figures show that 1.9 million of Gaza’s 2.1 million people are displaced and exposed to ongoing health and environmental risks. Up to 70 percent of the population cannot access even six litres of water a day. As part of its well-planned genocidal campaign against Palestinians in Gaza, the Israeli occupation has damaged or destroyed nearly 90 percent of water and sanitation infrastructure. This has left families reliant on small quantities of contaminated or untreated water.

Widespread environmental contamination, the spread of disease and the lack of clean water are now major concerns. For those who are pregnant, dehydration and poor sanitation increase the risk of urinary tract infections, kidney complications and other serious illnesses.

So much for ‘special protections’ under international law

International humanitarian law affords special protection to pregnant women and infants during armed conflict. So why are the reproductive rights of Gaza’s female population being systematically disregarded? They aren’t treated humanely, and Israel actively deprives them of the care they need.

The impunity stinks. Hospitals have been destroyed, newborns have died from preventable causes, and pregnant women have been denied life saving care, with little meaningful accountability.

When hospitals are reduced to rubble, ambulances cannot reach women in labour, and food, water and medicine are withheld, it is not only Palestinians who are under attack—it is the principles of international law itself.

The evidence points to a war on reproductive health, one in which accountability remains painfully absent.

Featured image via the UNFP / Canary

By Charlie Jaay

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