My stories as an OB/GYN in Gaza reveal the truth of the Gaza genocide
I am Dr. Areej Hijazi, an obstetrician and gynecologist. Before the October 2023 war, I worked at al-Shifa Medical Complex in Gaza, and now I work at the Emirati Hospital in Rafah. In this article, I will discuss my experience as an obstetrician and gynecologist during the Gaza genocide.
The war began while I was on duty in the obstetrics department at the al-Shifa Medical Complex. I remember the fear on the faces of most of the patients as they suffered from labor pains amid the sound of the missiles.
Pregnant women are the hidden victims in this war. I worked at al-Shifa for a month during the war, and then my work was transferred to Al-Helou International Hospital due to the large number of injured people. Al-Shifa’s maternity building was converted into a building for the wounded and injured of the war.
On November 1, when I was working at Al-Helou, I was taking a break in the emergency room after an exhausting shift. Soon, the thunderous sound of relentless shelling startled me awake. Israeli tanks were bombarding the hospital and its surroundings, targeting the fifth floor which is where all the cases from al-Shifa’s obstetrics department had been transferred to.
Fear gripped me. Everyone was in a state of panic, rushing outside. Pregnant women and patients still attached to IV fluids and urinary catheters were fleeing barefoot in sheer terror.
In that instant, I comprehended the extent of devastation Israel planned to inflict upon us. It was then that I resolved to move south to safeguard my life and the lives of my family.
I was displaced to Khan Younis and worked at Nasser Medical Hospital. Then, in January, I moved to Rafah to work at the Emirati Hospital where I have stayed until now.
My patients’ stories
There are many patients that I remember along the way.
One patient I will never forget is Shahd Al-Qatati, 20 years old, even though it has been an entire year since I treated her. She had been transferred from the trauma department to check on her fetus due to its lack of movement. I will never forget her face on that day—a young, beautiful, calm girl in a state of total shock. She had fallen from the third floor of her house after a missile hit it. This had led to the martyrdom of her husband. They had only been married for a few months. One of her legs was amputated, and her other three limbs were broken. Now she needed a cesarean section due to the loss of her fetus in her sixth month. Shahd was forced to suffer the pain of loss and the pain of the cesarean section together.
I also remember the patient M.A., 19 years old, who I cared for when she was in her second month of pregnancy. She came to the maternity reception accompanied by her father and sister, suffering from a high fever and vaginal bleeding. Due to the dangerous situation in northern Gaza, she could not come earlier. She came to the maternity reception at the al-Shifa Complex on the day our department was being transferred to another hospital. Her condition required intensive care as she was diagnosed with an aseptic abortion. There were no intensive care beds available, as they were filled with war injuries. She was transferred to a hospital without intensive care, and she died within 24 hours. I remember her as if I was with her yesterday. It was her first pregnancy.
As you can imagine the genocide is complicating access to essential healthcare, which exacerbates the conditions faced by mothers and pregnant women. I am reminded of one of my recent patients, Salma, who came to the maternity reception last month. She has only one child and was hoping to give him a sibling. Salma told me she had missed three months of follow-up appointments because she had been repeatedly displaced during the ongoing genocidal war. She came to the hospital after not feeling any fetal movement in the last 24 hours. Tragically, the ultrasound scan revealed no fetal heartbeat, indicating that she had experienced a miscarriage.
It is not just the war that is killing the innocent; the effects of rockets, bombs, and toxic smoke in the air, inhaled by pregnant women, lead to many complications, the most significant of which is miscarriage.
Just last week, during my conversation with one of the patients, M.R., 27 years old, she told me that she had her first baby after five years of infertility, but her baby was martyred in this war at the age of four months. M.R. went through deep psychological trauma but soon became pregnant again. She came to the hospital because she was experiencing lower abdominal pain and wanted to check on the fetus. I didn’t know how to tell her that she had also lost her second baby before he was born.
Current conditions
Many doctors have refused to evacuate from the north to the south and insisted on staying in the north to serve the patients there. The situation in the north is worse than in the south, especially in the Jabalia area, which suffers from daily massacres, artillery shelling, and sniper attacks on citizens up until today.
Pregnant women in northern Gaza have been attempting to access Kamal Adwan Hospital and Al Awda Hospital, but with the intensified bombardment prenatal care is almost nonexistent, and reaching health facilities is extremely difficult. In many cases, pregnant women who need to undergo a cesarean section are refusing to stay in the hospital even overnight because hospitals and their surroundings have been repeatedly targeted by Israeli aggression. Many chose to attempt to recover in overcrowded schools that lack basic living necessities out of fear for their lives.
With the continuation of the Israeli aggression and the closure of the Rafah crossing, hospitals, and health clinics are suffering from a shortage of medicines and a scarcity of sanitary pads. Currently, despite their necessity for all women, their price has doubled or even more.
The significant increase in the use of contraceptive pills, which are no longer available in UNRWA centers or pharmacies, coupled with the closure of the Rafah border crossing, is exacerbating the humanitarian disaster.
The situation in Gaza is indeed appalling. The collapse of medical institutions and the increase in pregnancy complications due to the ongoing conflict is alarming. The rise in cases of gestational diabetes, pregnancy hypertension, early miscarriage, fetal deformities, premature placental separation, uterine rupture, postpartum hemorrhage, and even postpartum depression are clear indicators of the severe impact on maternal health.
The absence of a health education system to teach women further complicates matters.
Although these factors are not communicated in the numbers and statistics shared about the war, these are all realities that communicate the horrific truth of the Gaza genocide.
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