Throughout the conflict in Gaza, women have continued to conceive, miscarry and birth their babies. Instead of preparing safely and hopefully, women have spent their entire pregnancy fighting for their families’ lives – often experiencing multiple displacements while caring for their children and other family members.
This has been the reality for Haifa*, who is nine months pregnant. She has been supporting her two daughters and her husband, who is unwell, throughout her pregnancy. Over the past two years, they have been displaced at least ten times. Haifa has frequently had to go out on foot to look for a safe place for shelter, or food or material to build a makeshift tent – risking her own safety and that of her two daughters and her unborn child.
*Name changed to protect identity
First experiences of displacement
When Haifa and her family were first displaced from their home, they spent a month with Haifa’s sister, before being displaced again. They spent a night sleeping on the beach, without anything:
“It was cold, there were dogs and airplanes hovering above us, boats shooting at us. We then slept in a tent owned by a barber in the street. Afterwards we spent three nights in a public park (montazah), but then the guard kicked us out, and we ended up on the street again.
“I would leave my daughters in a place to go look for a place for us to stay. But I couldn’t find a place to sleep in with my girls.”
Constantly on the move
From then on, life for Haifa and her family has been a constant cycle of searching for a safe place to stay, and being forced to move on because of frequent displacement orders. She told us about some of her experiences:
“I went to a school, they did not help me there. They told me there was no space for us. They told me they are not accepting anyone new. I sat in the schoolyard feeling desperate and started crying. I did not know where to go with my girls, no one was willing to host us.
“I kept looking for a place. I eventually found a spot, it was not a shelter, we just put up two sheets of tarps. But the owner of the place told us that we had to pay rent, I told him to look at us and that I did not have anyone to support me, where should I get money from.
“When he saw my husband’s condition he finally agreed for us to stay there, he told me I could find shelter for myself here but not to tell anyone and that if I needed anything to let him know. We stayed there for a week before we got an evacuation order.
“We did not know what to do. We found a place full of rocks and garbage. It was not fit for living. Although I was pregnant, I grabbed a shovel and started cleaning up the place with my husband. I said to myself that it’s ok, we finally found a place that people would let us stay in. We stayed there for a month, before we got displaced again."
I went from danger to danger. But I had no other option.”
Waiting for the new arrival
At nearly nine months pregnant, Haifa was forced to move again. She hopes this will be the last time during her pregnancy:
“Now I am staying in a tent. I hope that things stay calm. I will give birth any moment now. I am nine months pregnant, when I was displaced in the last place I was in, I was standing up the whole way and the sun was beating down on us, I felt dizzy and like I was going to faint.
“I was doing everything and helping my husband out because he’s weak. I was setting up the tent by hammering the tarps and clearing the area using the shovel. Everyone around me was telling me you should take it easy, you’re pregnant. But what can I do, I have no other option.
“Our tent is made up of scraps of wood joined together. I need a lot of things. First of all I need food for my girls. This is the first thing. I always think of my daughters first. I prioritize buying them flour or something to eat. We have not been getting proper nourishment from food. The flour crisis came during my pregnancy and I have not seen fruits in a long time.
“We just pray that we won’t still be like this when winter comes. It will be a disaster when the winter comes, I’ll have given birth by then, feeling tired and in pain, my suffering will be multiplied.”
For now, Haifa and her family nervously await the arrival of their new baby. She has received support at the maternity clinic run by CARE's partner Juzoor for Health and Social Development out of CARE's primary healthcare centre in Deir Al-Balah – with an ultrasound scan and check on her baby’s health. We have provided her with a clean delivery kit in case she goes into labour and is unable to reach the closest hospital or health provider for her delivery due to the unstable and unpredictable security situation.
Crisis in Gaza – how you can help
Throughout the crisis in Gaza, we’ve supported women like Haifa to give birth and care for their children, and provided sanitary products, alongside emergency food and water supplies. The fragile ceasefire offers hope that we can scale up our response and provide life-saving supplies and care to those who desperately need it.
But we can’t do it without you. Will you donate to our emergency appeal today and help save lives in Gaza?
