Amid the bombs and bloodshed in Gaza, a silent tragedy is unfolding, one that strikes before life even begins. Doctors are witnessing a surge in fetal deformities, as pregnant women endure toxic air, hunger, and collapsing healthcare under Israel’s ongoing war on the besieged enclave.

Dr Ibrahim Al-Bassayna, a gynaecologist in Gaza City, reports a troubling rise in newborns with missing limbs, undeveloped skulls, and life-threatening abnormalities. “Toxic emissions from missile strikes, severe malnutrition, and stress are leaving their mark on unborn children,” he says. Most of these deformities occur in the crucial first trimester, when vital organs are forming.

Expectant mothers, displaced and malnourished, now face chronic fatigue and physical decline. Hospitals, overwhelmed and undersupplied, can no longer provide timely prenatal care. Many women survive on canned food, with no access to supplements or fresh produce.

This hidden crisis, experts warn, is no accident. The systematic denial of healthcare, the use of starvation, and chemical exposure all violate international law. As Gaza’s suffering deepens, even the womb is no longer a refuge. Unborn children have become the war’s quietest, most defenceless victims.