Israel’s systematic destruction of Gaza’s maternity care has led to miscarriages, neonatal deaths, and denied births, an issue largely absent from global gender-based violence campaigns.
The Director General of the Ministry of Health in the Gaza Strip, Munir al-Barsh, said there has been a sharp rise in miscarriages alongside a dramatic decline in birth rates across the territory.
The Israeli blockade of Palestine deprives the more than 1,500 people who have become blinded or visually impaired since October 2023 of aid, according to the health ministry in Gaza.
Gaza’s Rafah border crossing was supposed to reopen in October as part of the ceasefire agreement. But the border remains closed, keeping Gaza shut off from the outside world and preventing families from reuniting with loves ones.