“I did not get complete and sufficient privacy during my birth. I was very afraid of bleeding,” Mayas Sufyan Musa, a Palestinian mother displaced in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza, told CNN. “I faced great difficulty in giving birth due to fear of the shelling next to the hospital.” Although a fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hamas began last week, the survival challenges facing new and expecting mothers in the enclave remains dire — after more than 15 months of Israeli bombardment and siege. Israel has inflicted “serious and sometimes life-threatening danger” on pregnant and postpartum women and girls in Gaza following the Hamas-led October 7 attacks, according to a new Human Rights Watch report. HRW accused Israel of enforcing an unlawful blockade, a near-total ban on water, food and electricity, starvation as a method of war, attacks on the medical system, and repeated forcible transfer – violating the right to follow-up and postnatal care for pregnant women and girls, and their children. CNN has reached out to the Israeli military and COGAT, the Israeli aid agency, for comment. Responding to a question about Israeli attacks on medical facilities and health care workers in Gaza, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) repeated allegations that Hamas uses hospitals for its military operations. Hamas denies using hospitals as cover. CNN cannot independently verify either claim. At least 12,316 women have been killed in Gaza, and another 808 were babies who were under aged one, Gaza’s Government Media Office (GMO) reported on January 24. At least 56 children have starved to death, according to Zahir Al-Wahidi, the director of Information Systems at Gaza’s health ministry. Eight infants and newborns have reportedly died from hypothermia, the UN’s children’s agency said in January. Israa Mazen Diab al-Ghul, 30, a pregnant woman displaced in Nuseirat, central Gaza, told HRW that in early 2024, she and her relatives had nothing to drink but sea water for two days. “I vomited, and I was worried it would kill the baby … I started begging that God would take the baby, so I wouldn’t need to give birth during this war.” Read our reporting, with @Dahmancnn.

Al Jazeera’s @MaramGaza captured the moment Israeli forces opened fire on displaced Palestinians near Gaza’s Netzarim Corridor, as they were waiting to cross back into northern Gaza. Israel is refusing to allow them through due to a dispute over a captive release.