Over the last month, Jezebel spoke with several health care workers on the ground in Gaza as well as humanitarian organizations, who described a war overwhelmingly victimizing newborns and pregnant women. In January, Care International shared with Jezebel that the miscarriage rate had increased by 300% since October 2023, and Pope reported that this figure hasn’t changed. Meanwhile, Ammal Awadallah, executive director of Palestine Family Planning and Protection Association (PFPPA), which is part of the International Planned Parenthood Federation, told Jezebel that not only is she “still hearing about C-sections without anesthesia,” but she’s heard from doctors who’ve increasingly “seen women with C-sections developing infections that spread right up to their chest.”

Hospitals still aren’t functioning; medical supplies still aren’t arriving; and women are either unable to reach a hospital in time or unable to deliver in a clean and sterile environment if they do. “When people talk about PTSD, it doesn’t apply to Gaza, because it’s never ‘post.’ It’s a situation of continuous trauma,” Awadallah said. “Previously, Gaza was an open prison, but now it’s fully closed. It’s a cage.”