BEIRUT: In a flimsy tent crouched low among the smashed buildings of Rafah, Palestine Bahr felt her contractions begin early one day in May. Her baby was coming but how would she make her way through the rubble-strewn streets to hospital without a car?
She managed to find a donkey cart and rattled her way through the streets of the city in southern Gaza as her contractions got stronger.
When she arrived at the Al Helal Al Emirati Maternity Hospital, she was tenth in line and had to wait for three hours before even getting to see a doctor. It was another three hours before she was taken into an operating room where she gave birth to a daughter, Ghina, by Caesarean.
But then Bahr developed blood clots. With no beds available for in-patients, she went back to her tent, resigning herself to traveling to and from the hospital for treatment.
Then, two days after giving birth, she was forced to flee her makeshift home when Israeli forces stormed Rafah. It was the fourth time Bahr, who is originally from the central city of Deir Al-Balah, had to flee because of the conflict.
“Since the war began, it has been a constant fight for survival, even for the most basic human right: bringing a child safely into the world,” Bahr, 33, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation in a phone interview from Khan Younis in late May.
“It wasn’t just the physical pain, but the constant worry gnawing at me – would my baby be okay? Would I be okay?“
Bahr is among thousands of women who have run the gauntlet of bombs and bullets to bring life into a land where more than 38,000 people have been killed by the Israeli military since its war with Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip began nine months ago, according to the Palestinian health ministry.
The offensive came after Hamas-led militants stormed into Israel on Oct. 7, killing around 1,200 people and taking 250 hostage, according to Israeli figures.
Since then, over half of Gaza’s 2.3 million people have crowded into Rafah, seeking shelter from an offensive that has laid waste to homes, schools and vital infrastructure such as hospitals and clinics.
More than 87,000 people have been wounded and the few hospitals that are still functioning struggle to cope with the daily influx of people injured in Israeli airstrikes.
In May, the World Health Organization said only about one-third of Gaza’s 36 hospitals and primary health care centers were still partially operational.
Israel justifies attacks on hospitals by saying that Hamas uses them for military purposes — a claim both hospital staff and Hamas deny.
For new mothers like Bahr, giving birth in a warzone is just the first step on a traumatic journey marked by constant fear and anxiety.
“The makeshift tent barely shields us from hot weather or bad weather, let alone the constant fear that grips our hearts. It’s no place to raise children, no place to recover from childbirth,” Bahr said.
“My body is barely healed from childbirth, and now I have to fight to keep my daughter alive.”
’Born into hell’
The UN children’s agency UNICEF has said that mothers in Gaza face “unimaginable challenges” in accessing adequate medical care, nutrition, and protection before, during and after giving birth.
“The trauma of war also directly impacts newborns, resulting in higher rates of undernutrition, developmental issues and other health complications,” Tess Ingram, UNICEF’s communications specialist, said during a press conference in Geneva in January.
“Becoming a mother should be a time for celebration. In Gaza, it’s another child delivered into hell,” Ingram said.
In May, the main maternity hospital in Rafah, where Bahr gave birth, stopped admitting patients.
The hospital has seen a drop of over 50 percent in staff and patients since Israeli forces entered Rafah in May, said Naheel Jarrour, an obstetrician who works at the hospital.
“We had prepared places for pregnant women on the floor to get treatment or even to deliver their babies because there were not enough beds for them,” she said, adding that the fighting had prevented her from getting to the hospital for weeks.
Aurelie Godard, head of Medecins Sans Frontieres’ (Doctors Without Borders) medical activities in Gaza, said many women are being forced to give birth outside the formal medical system.
“It is still a challenge for many women especially in Rafah to have access to transportation and to hospitals,” Godard told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
Despite their efforts, humanitarian organizations have been finding it difficult to provide services to around 2,200 women who give birth in Gaza every month, she added.
“My friend was trapped in the north and had to deliver her baby at home,” Jarrour said. “Alone in the bathroom, she cut the umbilical cord herself with scissors.”
There has also been a rise in miscarriages because of the lack of food and stress of constant danger and displacement, according to ActionAid.
Godard said patients who were critically ill and in intensive care were also being placed at risk by evacuation orders that meant medical equipment had to be moved around constantly.
Other hospitals in Rafah, such as Abu Yousef Al-Najjar hospital and the Kuwaiti hospital, have been forced to close due to evacuation orders.
Hungry babies
The trauma for new mothers continues after birth as they try to care for their babies with food, power and other essential supplies in short supply.
More than 495,000 people across the Gaza Strip are facing the most severe, or “catastrophic,” level of food insecurity, according to an update from the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), an initiative of UN agencies, regional bodies and aid groups.
Israel says it puts no limit on humanitarian supplies for civilians in Gaza and has blamed the United Nations for slow deliveries, saying its operations are inefficient.
Medicines are in short supply, forcing new mothers to improvise as they care for their babies.
“The fear is constant. Will this homemade remedy work? Will I make things worse? This isn’t the kind of fear a mother should have to live with,” said 23-year-old Asmaa Salah Abu Jabal in an interview with the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
She was forced to turn to the Internet to try to find alternatives to treat her four-month-old daughter’s cold.
“We cannot be doctors overnight, desperately searching the Internet for answers,” she said.
Soad Al Masri, a 19-year-old who recently gave birth, described the challenges of caring for her newborn daughter Layan in a tent made unbearable by the scorching summer heat.
“My daughter feels suffocated in her winter clothes that we borrowed from neighbors,” she said. “It is extremely hot and there is no air.”
In search of some relief, Masri often walks her daughter down to the seashore, hoping for a cool breeze.
“Every time the sight of my daughter struggling to breathe takes my soul.”
Gaza’s pregnant women defy odds to give birth, protect babies
https://arab.news/mkhcf
Gaza’s pregnant women defy odds to give birth, protect babies
- Pregnant women struggle to get to overcrowded hospitals
- Repeated displacement makes medical care almost impossible
Biden vows to ‘keep working for end to war in Gaza’
- Joe Biden: “I’ll be working very closely with the Israelis and with the Palestinians to try to work out how we can get the Gaza war to end"
WASHINGTON: US President Joe Biden vowed Monday to continue working to end the war in Gaza during his final months in office, after he bowed out of his reelection bid.
“I’ll be working very closely with the Israelis and with the Palestinians to try to work out how we can get the Gaza war to end, and Middle East peace, and get all those hostages home,” Biden said in a public call into his campaign headquarters, which has transitioned to supporting Vice President Kamala Harris.
Iraq eyes drawdown of US-led forces starting September, sources say
- The US currently has around 2,500 troops in Iraq at the head of a more than 80-member coalition that was formed in 2014 to repel Daesh as it rampaged across Iraq and Syria
- Washington and Baghdad initiated talks on the future of the coalition in January amid tit-for-tat attacks between Iran-backed Shiite Muslim armed groups and US forces that were sparked by the Israel-Hamas war
BAGHDAD: Iraq wants troops from a US-led military coalition to begin withdrawing in September and to formally end the coalition’s work by September 2025, four Iraqi sources said, with some US forces likely to remain in a newly negotiated advisory capacity.
The Iraqi position is being discussed with US officials in Washington this week at a security summit and there is no formal agreement on ending the coalition or any associated timetable yet, the Iraqi sources and US officials said.
US State Department spokesperson Mathew Miller told a news briefing that both sides were meeting in Washington this week to determine how to transition the US-led coalition’s mission based on the threat posed by Daesh, adding he had no further details.
US-led forces invaded Iraq in 2003, toppled former leader Saddam Hussein and then withdrew in 2011, only to return in 2014 to fight Daesh at the head of the coalition.
The US currently has around 2,500 troops in Iraq at the head of a more than 80-member coalition that was formed in 2014 to repel Daesh as it rampaged across Iraq and Syria.
They are housed at three main bases, one in Baghdad, one in western Anbar province and another in the northern Kurdistan region.
It is unclear how many troops would leave under a deal, with Iraqi sources saying they expected most to eventually depart but US officials saying many may remain under a newly negotiated advise and assist mission.
US officials are keen to have some military footprint in Iraq on a bilateral basis, in part to help support its presence across the border in Syria, where it has around 900 troops.
The issue is highly politicized, with mainly Iran-aligned Iraqi political factions looking to show that they are pushing out the country’s one-time occupier again, while US officials want to avoid giving Iran and its allies a win.
There are also concerns about Daesh’s ability to regroup.
The jihadist group was declared territorially defeated in Iraq in 2017 and in Syria in 2019 but still carries out attacks in both countries and is on track to double its attacks in Syria this year compared to 2023, the US military said.
The group and its affiliates have also in recent months carried out attacks in Iran and Russia, as well as in Oman last week for the first time.
While the coalition’s mission is to advise and assist Iraqi forces in the fight against the Daesh, Western officials say the US and its allies also see its presence in Iraq as a check on Iranian influence.
Washington and Baghdad initiated talks on the future of the coalition in January amid tit-for-tat attacks between Iran-backed Shiite Muslim armed groups and US forces that were sparked by the Israel-Hamas war.
An agreement to draw down the coalition could be a political win for Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani, who has been under pressure from Iran-aligned factions to push out US forces but has sought to do so in a way that balances Iraq’s delicate position as an ally of both Washington and Tehran.
Israel strikes on Yemen port: what is the damage?
- The attack destroyed most of the port’s fuel storage capacity of 150,000 tons, leaving the Hodeida governorate with an overall capacity of 50,000, the US-based Navanti Group said, citing merchants
- The ship “remains operational,” but “all 780,000 liters of fuel stock was likely destroyed,” said Pierre Honnorat, WFP’s Yemen country director, adding that all the agency’s staff were safe and accounted for
DUBAI: Israeli strikes on Saturday hit a power plant and fuel storage facilities in Hodeida, the main port under the control of Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels.
Here is what we know about the damage caused by the attack, which set oil tanks ablaze for days and came a day after the first fatal strike by the Houthis in Israel.
Saturday’s long-distance strike, the first by Israel on the Arabian Peninsula’s poorest country, hit the Hodeida harbor, a key gateway for fuel and international aid into Houthi-held parts of Yemen.
The Houthis, who control swathes of the country including much of its Red Sea coast, said the attack struck fuel storage facilities at the harbor, killing six people, all of them port employees of the Yemen Petroleum Company.
A nearby power plant was also targeted, according to the rebels.
AFPTV images showed huge flames and black smoke spiralling into the sky from burning oil tanks at the port. Debris covered the dock where equipment was damaged.
High-resolution satellite images taken by Maxar Technologies showed flames consuming a heavily damaged fuel storage area, which still appeared to be burning on Monday, according to an AFP correspondent.
A Hodeida port employee who was at the harbor the day of the attack said several tanks exploded sequentially.
But “the port, with its dock, containers, and ships, is intact,” said the employee who spoke on condition of anonymity over security concerns.
Analysis of satellite imagery from Planet by Dutch peace organization PAX showed at least 33 destroyed oil storage tanks, said Wim Zwijnenburg, a project leader with the organization.
“We expect (to find) more damage, as not all storage tanks are visible because of heavy smoke” from the fire and burning fuel, Zwijnenburg told AFP.
According to Zwijnenburg, the bombing has resulted in tens of thousands of liters of oil burning.
“Localized coastal pollution is expected from wastewater and leaking fuel,” said the expert, who specializes in the environmental impacts of war.
Maritime security firm Ambrey said satellite imagery following the strikes showed “extensive damage to the oil products storage facilities,” clarifying, however, that “the bulk terminal storage facilities appeared to be unaffected.”
The attack destroyed most of the port’s fuel storage capacity of 150,000 tons, leaving the Hodeida governorate with an overall capacity of 50,000, the US-based Navanti Group said, citing merchants.
The Israeli army on Sunday published a video showing them hitting two container yard cranes at the harbor.
The Navanti Group said five cranes are now “most likely non-operational.”
Ambrey said two merchant vessels were alongside the yard at the time the cranes were hit, but it did not specify if they were damaged.
The British agency had earlier observed four merchant vessels in the port at the time of the strikes and another eight in the anchorage.
“No vessel arrivals or departures have occurred since the Israeli attack on Hodeida,” Ambrey reported on Monday.
The World Food Programme on Monday told AFP that there had been “minor” damage to a crane on one of its aid vessels in the port and that its fuel storage facility was impacted.
The ship “remains operational,” but “all 780,000 liters of fuel stock was likely destroyed,” said Pierre Honnorat, WFP’s Yemen country director, adding that all the agency’s staff were safe and accounted for.
“WFP will source enough fuel supplies to ensure this loss has no significant effect on our operations,” he said.
Yemeni port authorities have said Hodeida “is operating at its full capacity,” according to the rebels’ Saba news agency.
“We are working around the clock to receive all ships and there is no concern about the supply chain and supplies of food, medicine, and oil derivatives,” port official Nasr Al-Nusairi was quoted by Saba as saying on Sunday.
A Houthi transport official on Monday said “work is underway to receive and unload food and fuel shipments within 24 hours.”
While firefighting teams were still struggling to contain the blaze at the harbor, a fire that erupted at a nearby power plant was nearly under control on Monday, according to Mohammed Albasha, the Navanti Group’s senior Middle East analyst.
“Repairs have started” as electricity gradually returns to the city following outages over the weekend, the analyst said.
Israelis due in Doha for talks on Gaza truce requests
- The source said the points were negotiable and an agreement was “doable,” provided Israel does not remain in Gaza “indefinitely” and a solution is found for the Philadelphi corridor, with Egyptian mediators leading these efforts
DOHA: An Israeli delegation will travel to Doha on Thursday to discuss new demands for a Gaza truce and hostage-prisoner exchange, a source with knowledge of the talks said.
The delegation would meet with mediator Qatar’s Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani to discuss three Israeli requests, including control over the return of civilians to northern Gaza, the source said on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of talks.
Qatar, along with Egypt and the United States, has been engaged in months of behind-the-scenes efforts to broker a Gaza truce and a hostage-prisoner swap.
A proposed cessation of hostilities focuses on a phased approach, beginning with an initial truce.
Recent discussions have centered on a framework outlined by US President Joe Biden in late May, which he said had been proposed by Israel.
The source said Israel had requested its forces remain in the so-called Philadelphi corridor, a 14-kilometer (8.5-mile) stretch along the Gaza-Egypt border, and that it controls the return of displaced Gazan civilians to the north of the Palestinian territory.
Israel has also asked that its troop positions in Gaza be resolved before the truce begins, the source added.
The source said the points were negotiable and an agreement was “doable,” provided Israel does not remain in Gaza “indefinitely” and a solution is found for the Philadelphi corridor, with Egyptian mediators leading these efforts.
But the source said Israel’s return with extra demands was “a recurring theme” in the talks and Israel had “moved the goalposts.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu left for Washington on Monday under significant domestic and international pressure to agree to a truce and hostage-prisoner exchange in Gaza.
Despite this pressure, Netanyahu maintains that increased military pressure on the militants is the best route to a deal.
On Sunday, the premier’s office said he was sending a negotiating team for new talks on a truce deal.
Except for a one-week truce in November, during which 80 Israeli hostages were freed in exchange for 240 Palestinians held in Israeli prisons, talks have repeatedly foundered over differences between the parties.
Civilians pay the price for Sudan’s civil war
- They face ‘horrendous levels of violence’ from both sides, medical charity says
JEDDAH: Civilians in Sudan are facing “horrendous levels of violence” in the country’s 15-month civil war, the medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres said in a report published on Monday.
“The price paid by civilians in this war qualifies a conflict seemingly between warring factions as a war on the people of Sudan,” the charity said.
Fighting broke out in April 2023 between the regular army under Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces led by his former deputy Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, usually referred to as Hemedti.
Tens of thousands of people have been killed and more than seven million displaced. Both sides have been accused of war crimes including deliberately targeting civilians, indiscriminate shelling of residential areas and blocking humanitarian aid, and there is a threat of famine.
“The population has faced horrendous levels of violence, succumbing to widespread fighting and surviving repeated attacks, abuse, and exploitation,” Medecins Sans Frontieres said.
Vickie Hawkins, the charity’s general director in the Netherlands, said: “Nowhere is safe for communities trapped in Sudan conflict hot spots. Patients recount horrific stories of inhuman treatment and violence, perpetrated by armed groups.”
These included “forced defections, looting and arson, degrading interrogation, arbitrary arrest, abduction, and torture on a systematic level,” she said.
While many aid organizations closed operations in Sudan because of the war, Medecins Sans Frontieres continues to operate in eight states across the country. It has treated thousands of conflict injuries, most caused by explosions, gunshots and stabbings.
