Podcasts News Reveal In Gaza, Every Pregnancy is Complicated

In Gaza, Every Pregnancy is Complicated

Published: April 13, 2024, 4 a.m.

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After six months of war in Gaza, the Palestinian medical infrastructure has collapsed, leaving tens of thousands of pregnant women without a safe place to deliver. Reporters Gabrielle Berbey and Salman Ahad Khan follow one mother over the final months of her pregnancy after she\\u2019s forced to leave behind her home, work and doctor in Gaza City.\\xa0

We begin with the reporters\\u2019 first call to Lubna Al Rayyes five weeks into the war, as she is seven months pregnant with her third child. Before the war\\u2019s start on Oct. 7, Al Rayyes ran a prestigious school in Gaza City and her husband owned a clothing store. After being forced to evacuate their home, they fled to Khan Younis, but that city soon came under attack by the Israeli military as well. After being in regular contact with Al Rayyes for more than a month, the reporters lost contact with her.\\xa0

Berbey and Khan then track down Al Rayyes\\u2019 sister, who was able to leave Gaza and relocate to Canada because of her husband\\u2019s Canadian citizenship. Canada\\u2019s Palestinian community lobbied the government to create an asylum program for displaced people in Gaza, but the program became mired in delays. Berbey and Khan eventually reconnect with Al Rayyes, who explains what happened with her delivery.

Beyond the collapse of the medical system, the health of Palestinians in Gaza is threatened by food shortages. Khan speaks with Tessa Roseboom, a Dutch researcher who\\u2019s been looking at how famine affects the development of babies in their mothers\\u2019 womb. We then meet Dr. Ghassan Jawad, an OB-GYN from Gaza who was forced to deliver babies in cars, shelters and even on the street as the medical system stopped functioning. Jawad had worked at Al-Shifa hospital, which was heavily damaged in a recent attack by the Israeli military.\\xa0

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