Miscarriages are rising, births are falling and malnutrition is harming mothers and children across Gaza, as war, displacement and the collapse of healthcare devastate reproductive health.

In hospitals across the Gaza Strip, pregnant women and women who have recently given birth stand in long queues to secure appointments for the medical examinations available to them and their children, before returning to their tents without treatment and without any change to the disease-ridden environment surrounding them and the health disasters they face.

Palestinians in the Gaza Strip are experiencing a comprehensive reproductive genocide, as Israeli crimes and genocide over the course of three years have compounded crises and direct and indirect impacts, resulting in an unprecedented health catastrophe.

Reports from the Palestinian Ministry of Health and international organisations such as Physicians for Human Rights and Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) indicate a significant rise in cases of spontaneous miscarriages, a decline in the number of births, an increase in premature births, low birth weight, and congenital abnormalities, in addition to the effects of malnutrition, stunting, and disease on children. These developments are closely linked to the conditions of war, siege, displacement, and the collapse of the healthcare system since October 2023.

This reproductive collapse has manifested directly and immediately in the decline in annual and monthly birth numbers. In 2022, the annual birth rate in the Gaza Strip stood at approximately 54,700 to 57,000 births per year. But one year into the genocide, the number had fallen to approximately 38,000 births in 2024, representing a decline of around 42 per cent. This sharp decline continued, reflecting women’s inability to complete pregnancies under the prevailing conditions.

The Ministry of Health in Gaza recorded 6,076 births in November 2025. The figures then fell at an alarming and unprecedented rate during the first half of 2026, reaching 5,210 births in January, 3,433 in February, and 3,233 in March, before falling to only 2,004 births in April 2026, a decline of approximately 67 per cent compared with November 2025. The number fell again in May 2026, when only 1,701 births were recorded.

At the forefront of these crises is persistent fear, anxiety, and severe psychological........

© Pearls and Irritations