(Photo by MedGlobal Org via Flickr/CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 DEED)
Listen to this article:
Amid the ongoing bombardment of Gaza, the genocide continues to take a severe toll on women’s reproductive health. Pregnant women and mothers face life-threatening conditions, often with little to no access to adequate medical care. “Every step, it was as if I were alive and racing against death,” a 30-year-old pregnant woman told the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) of her ordeal as bombs went off.
At present, more than 46,000 pregnant women in Gaza suffer from severe acute food insecurity, and the majority of them do not receive adequate antenatal or postnatal care. The ongoing genocide has devastated Gaza’s healthcare system, leaving thousands of women with limited options for safe childbirth. With 14 hospitals and 45 primary health care centres shut down, many women are forced to deliver in unsuitable conditions, such as shelters, homes, or even on the streets. Overwhelmed healthcare facilities struggle to provide adequate care, and Israel’s targeting of hospitals, like the shelling of Al Hilo Hospital, highlight the dangers facing these essential services.
Women’s inability to access essential reproductive healthcare in Gaza is largely due to a breakdown in the health system. This neglect exacerbates both their physical and mental suffering, particularly as they face numerous Acute Disease Conditions (ADCs). ADCs are serious health problems that arise suddenly and can be life-threatening if not promptly treated. These include complications like infections, untreated injuries, and other urgent medical issues that can severely impact health. In Gaza, the prevalence of ADCs is especially concerning because, without adequate healthcare, these conditions pose lethal risks—not only to individual women but also to the future well-being of the entire Gazan population.
Reproductive Health Under Siege
The loss of women’s health care services during the genocide is not only a loss of physical facilities like hospitals and clinics but also a breakdown in essential social support systems and medical infrastructure. This includes the absence of trained healthcare personnel, reliable medical supplies, and functional communication networks critical for coordinating care. About half a million pregnant women with health concerns, including those who might need to deliver at home, face severely limited access to prenatal and postpartum services.
Prior to the current situation, Gaza’s healthcare system already faced severe challenges. Midwives describe the pre-war conditions as overwhelming, managing 60 to 70 births daily with only six midwives available. Women frequently gave birth on unsanitary floors, lacking basic hygiene and medical assistance. Now, the crisis has worsened, putting women and their newborns at even greater risk.
Palestinian Women’s Physical and Mental Health in Crisis
A lack of available medical supplies and pain relievers also worsens the situation. Women continue to suffer the consequences of war without access to the basic needs of medical treatment due to the ongoing war conditions.
As Israel targets hospitals in Gaza, patients are left with fewer facilities for critical care. This shortage strains not only patients but also predominantly female healthcare workers who face overwhelming demands and prolonged psychological stress as they manage postpartum care, birthing complications, and other urgent needs under increasingly dire conditions.
Beyond the immediate physical consequences, the genocide has severely impacted women’s mental health. Many have lost access to specialized psychological services due to the destruction of health centers, such as the women’s health facility in Bureij Camp. This loss has left many without critical care, increasing the rates of depression, anxiety, and PTSD. These psychological scars, along with economic hardship and malnutrition, contribute to the cycle of suffering that affects both women and their children, impacting many generations to come.
Even for women and teens without birth-related complications, the lack of availability of menstrual products leads to humiliation and embarrassment, putting them easily at the mercy of feeling helpless and developing anxiety.
Reproductive Rights as a Target
The deprivation of reproductive healthcare in Gaza reflects a systematic pattern seen in conflict zones worldwide, where healthcare systems are often weaponized. Studies in global health have long indicated that women’s sexual and reproductive health and rights suffer greatly in these environments. Available evidence suggests that control over women’s reproductive choices is exerted by denying access to basic maternal and reproductive care, even when these services are available.
Gaza, like other conflict-ridden regions, faces a deliberate erosion of reproductive rights within a broader framework of colonial oppression aimed at disempowering women and destabilizing populations. Suppressing reproductive rights serves as a tool of control, undermining social structures and future generations. This systemic oppression, as seen in conflicts from Syria to Rwanda, uses limitations on reproductive health as a means of dominance, perpetuating a cycle of suffering and instability. In an age when modern medicine has made pregnancy significantly safer, women in conflict zones still face life-threatening risks as if medical advancements had bypassed them entirely.
Global Implications and the Path Forward
The challenges faced in Gaza’s healthcare facilities mirror those seen globally, as conflict hinders access to quality maternal and reproductive healthcare. Women in war-torn regions face extreme risks during childbirth, compounded by limited healthcare facilities, lack of transportation, and absence of essential resources. This structural violence impacts generations, subjecting women and children to heightened vulnerabilities.
Studies emphasize that maternal health in conflict settings is frequently neglected, with the effects of warfare on reproductive health extending beyond immediate medical concerns. Although reproductive health rights are recognized as fundamental human rights, conflict zones like Gaza continue to fall short of even the most basic objectives in this area. These challenges are intensified by aggressors’ direct targeting of healthcare facilities and services, further limiting access to essential care.
Addressing these issues requires both holding aggressors accountable to prevent such attacks and sustained interventions to build accessible healthcare infrastructure, train local healthcare providers, and implement mental health support for patients and healthcare workers. Without accountability and these long-term solutions, cycles of aggression, discrimination, and human rights violations will continue to threaten the lives and well-being of women and children in conflict settings.
Edited by Melanie Miles
