SURVIVAL through pregnancy in Gaza has become a matter of “chance rather than care” amid malnutrition and the collapse of healthcare services, a new report has warned.
The Palestinian Return Centre (PRC) has published a study examining the impact of the genocide in Gaza on pregnant women, breastfeeding mothers and newborn babies.
Pregnancy Under Siege: Reproductive Violence and the Destruction of Maternal Life in Gaza draws on evidence from UN agencies, medical organisations and humanitarian groups.
It warns that the effects of malnutrition, displacement and psychological trauma could extend beyond the immediate crisis and affect the development of a generation of children.
The report states: “In Gaza, war does not only injure and kill; it penetrates the earliest stages of life, shaping whether life can be sustained at all.”
It adds: “For many, survival through pregnancy has become a matter of chance rather than care.”
According to UN Population Fund figures cited in the report, an estimated 55,000 pregnant and breastfeeding women in Gaza are expected to be at severe risk from malnutrition by mid-2026, compared with 17,000 in May 2025.
One in five babies is now born prematurely or underweight, the report states.
‘Functional collapse’ of maternity care
The study describes what it calls the “functional collapse of obstetric medicine”, pointing to damage to hospitals and shortages of medicines, blood, fuel and medical equipment.
It says only 20 of Gaza’s 37 hospitals remain partially functional, with no fully functioning hospital remaining.
The report says women have been forced to give birth without anaesthesia or adequate medical assistance, including in overcrowded shelters and improvised spaces.
It states: “The line between survivable and lethal has been erased by deprivation.”
Malnutrition is also having severe consequences for mothers and newborns.
Of 747 women screened by Save the Children during the first half of July, 323 were malnourished, according to figures cited in the report.
Separate research by Doctors Without Borders (MSF), involving 201 mothers whose babies received neonatal intensive care between June 2025 and January 2026, found more than half had experienced malnutrition during pregnancy.
Among babies born to malnourished mothers, 90% were premature and 84% had a low birth weight. Their neonatal mortality rate was twice that among babies born to adequately nourished mothers.
The report also warns of the psychological impact of bombardment, displacement, bereavement and hunger during pregnancy.
It argues prolonged exposure to extreme stress can affect pregnancy and fetal development, describing a process in which “external violence is translated into internal biological consequence”.
Ahmad Alhendawi, Save the Children’s regional director for the Middle East, North Africa and Eastern Europe, is quoted in the report saying: “Mothers are arriving at our clinics hungry, exhausted, and terrified their babies won’t survive.
“Some are asking for formula so their baby can still be fed if they die.”
‘Reproductive violence’
The PRC argues the conditions documented should be examined through the framework of “reproductive violence”, referring to harm to the infrastructure and conditions necessary to conceive, carry pregnancies and give birth safely.
It points to the destruction and degradation of maternity and fertility services alongside malnutrition, displacement and restrictions on access to healthcare.
The report states: “These outcomes are not isolated medical incidents but recurring consequences of a system in which the basic safeguards of reproductive health have been progressively dismantled.”
Its legal analysis says the evidence raises concerns under the Geneva Conventions and the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.
It also examines the Genocide Convention, which includes “imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group” among acts which can constitute genocide where the required specific intent is established.
The PRC has called for unrestricted humanitarian access to Gaza, the entry of food, medicine and reproductive health supplies, protection for healthcare facilities and the restoration of maternal and neonatal services.
It also called for independent investigations and greater psychosocial and reproductive health support for women and children in Gaza.
