Gaza health official says miscarriages surge as births fall by 40%

The Director General of the Ministry of Health in the Gaza Strip, Munir al-Barsh, said there has been a sharp rise in miscarriages alongside a dramatic decline in birth rates across the territory.

In a press statement issued on Sunday, al-Barsh said the number of births in Gaza has dropped by around 40 per cent compared with last year, with monthly births falling from about 26,000 to just 17,000.

He said low birth weight has become increasingly common, attributing the trend to widespread maternal malnutrition and the continued prevention of essential nutritional supplements from entering the Gaza Strip.

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Al-Barsh also said Israeli forces have directly targeted fertility services, noting that the bombing of the Al-Basma fertility centre led to the burning of nitrogen storage cylinders and the complete destruction of around 4,000 fertilised embryos.

Since 7 October 2023, Israel has committed genocide in the Gaza Strip, including killing, starvation, mass destruction, forced displacement and arbitrary arrests, while ignoring international appeals and binding orders issued by the International Court of Justice to halt its actions.

The genocide has resulted in more than 239,000 Palestinians killed or wounded, the majority of them women and children, with more than 11,000 people reported missing. Hundreds of thousands have been displaced, and famine has claimed the lives of many, mostly children. Entire cities and towns across Gaza have been devastated or erased.

A ceasefire between Palestinian factions and the Israeli occupation came into effect on 10 October, though humanitarian conditions across the Strip remain catastrophic.

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