The United Nations said on Friday that thousands of babies are being born in unimaginable conditions in Gaza.
UNICEF spokeswoman Tess Ingram, who recently visited the Gaza Strip, described mothers bleeding to death, while one nurse had to perform C-sections on six dead women.
Nearly 20.000 babies were born in the war that began after Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, UNICEF said.
"Every 10 minutes a baby is born in that terrible war." Being a mother should be a cause for celebration. In Gaza, that means another baby is being born in hell. The suffering of newborns, while some mothers bleed to death, should keep us awake at night," Ingram told reporters in Geneva, via video link from Oman.
Ingram described "very disturbing" meetings with women caught up in the chaos. One of them, Machel, was pregnant when her house was hit. Her husband was buried under the rubble for several days, and her baby stopped moving in her womb.
"She says that after a month she is sure that her baby is dead." "He's still waiting for health care," Ingram said. Machel also told her that it was best if the baby "wasn't born into this nightmare."
Ingram also spoke about nurse Webda, who has had to perform emergency C-sections on six dead women in the past eight weeks.
"Mothers face unimaginable challenges when it comes to accessing adequate health care, nutrition and protection before, during and after childbirth. "The situation of pregnant women and newborns in the Gaza Strip is incredible, and requires more intensive and urgent action," Ingram said.
The infant mortality rate in Gaza is unknown at this time, Ingram said, but added that it's safe to say "children are dying now because of the humanitarian crisis on the ground, like from bombs and bullets."
