![Four premature babies share one plastic hospital bassinet Shifa Hospital in Gaza city. The infant in the bottom left is being fed by a gloved medical worker out of a bottle with a pink top. The bassinet has a patterned sheet, and diapers and bottles are laid among the infants.](https://harvardpublichealth.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/HarvardPublicHealth-Gaza-hospital-maternal-healthcare-children_F-400x267.jpg)
In Gaza, birth becomes a battlefield
There are more than 50,000 pregnant women in Gaza and 180 babies born every day.
Special Project
“Targeted and indiscriminate attacks on hospitals, clinics, and workers in an armed conflict are war crimes. When committed as part of a state policy on a widespread or systematic basis, such attacks are also crimes against humanity.”
— Destruction and devastation: One Year of Russia’s Assault on Ukraine’s health care system
Lead photo illustration by Mary Delaware. Source images, top to bottom: Vadim Ghirda / AP Photo, Evgeniy Maloletka / AP Photo, Emilio Morenatti / AP Photo,rootstocks / iStock (background).