RAFAH, PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES (AFP)-

Forced to flee her home by Israeli bombardment, Asmaa Ahmed gave birth in the middle of the night in a Gaza City school that had no electricity. “I was very, very afraid to lose the baby,” 31-year-old Ahmed tearfully recounted how her son Faraj came into the world four months ago as medics risked their lives to help her deliver in unsanitary conditions amid the assault on besieged and battered Gaza.

Baraa Jaber is a volunteer nurse who shares: “Giving birth here is risky for the life of the baby, the life of the mother, and our lives as medics. The doctors put themselves at risk to come in the middle of the night. We don’t have life-saving basic equipment, and have to improvise for everything.”

Mahmoud Al-Af is the doctor who conducted the delivery. He recounts the struggle thus: “We went with the nurse from the neighbourhood to the school. We found the woman, I mean, in a state of giving birth and very close to delivering. All of this under the light of mobile phones, we delivered the woman with the minimum equipment. I had an ambulance bag that was at home. I took it and went to school immediately.”

He continued his account of conducting the procedure in extreme conditions: “In the school, there was no electricity, there was nothing, no facilities. The baby Faraj (‘Relief’ in Arabic) was born and we called him Faraj because God will relieve us.”

Asmaa offers her perspective on the long-drawn trial she has faced: “My pregnancy was risky from the beginning, I was very tired after we left our house and becoming homeless. My pregnancy was bad and it was getting more and more dangerous. We went to Al-Shifa hospital and it was hit in a strike. We pulled out our belongings from Al-Shifa hospital and I carried the heavy baggage all the way while I was full-term…”

“I was very, very afraid to lose the baby,” she continued. “I thought I was going to die. I was alone without my family and husband. No one was there except my children. I didn’t know what to do…”

Malak Shabat was also displaced from Beit Lahia to Rafah while she was pregnant. She shares, “I’m currently eight months pregnant and have so much fear when it comes to giving birth. Firstly, I’m concerned about the possibility of not being able to reach the hospital on time and having to give birth here. We have been displaced a lot from place to another. This adds stress and more exhaustion.”

She continued to share her fears and endless suffering, “I don’t want to give birth here without the proper care. Before the war, hospitals would provide care for women in labour, and there were even incubators available for newborns.”

However, the new situation leaves expectant mothers in severe risk and danger for their own lives and the lives in the making they carry. Other than physical trauma, the psychological stress is immense and unbearable.