Women and Children Still Facing Health Crises in Gaza Despite So-Called Ceasefire: MdM and PHR

Women and children in Gaza continue to suffer from poor health due to ongoing violence and Israeli restrictions on medical supplies more than one year since the ceasefire was reached in Gaza on October 10, 2025, according to new data published today by Médecins du Monde (MdM) and Physicians for Human Rights (PHR). 

Interviews with 211 pregnant and breastfeeding women¹ and 177 caregivers of children under 5 years old conducted in MdM clinics in August 2026 shed light on the continuing health crises of women, newborns, and children in Gaza. New findings include:

• 42 percent of patients report being unable to access health care in the previous three months.
• 57 percent of pregnant and breastfeeding women surveyed reported illnesses, such as acute respiratory tract infections, skin diseases, and anemia. 
• 93 percent of pregnant and breastfeeding women interviewed reported anemia-related symptoms, which carry risks of pregnancy-related complications and alongside malnutrition can limit immune response and delay healing.
• 83 percent of women surveyed fell below the minimum dietary diversity threshold of consuming five or more food groups in the last 24 hours, creating risk factors for malnutrition and anemia amongst women and their newborns.
• 84 percent reported that access to nutritious food is very difficult. Skipping meals and reducing meal size was reported by 60 percent of households.
• 97 percent of patients MdM interviewed in its clinics reported having been displaced since October 2023, with nearly half displaced five to ten times and 20 percent of respondents displaced more than ten times. All patients who were interviewed for this research are currently displaced. 
• Since the ceasefire was reached MdM has still not been allowed to have any trucks with medical supplies enter Gaza, the last MdM shipment that entered Gaza was in March 2025.²

A ceasefire unfulfilled

One year after the so‑called ceasefire, Israeli forces have killed more than 1,400 people in Gaza. Nearly two million people remain without adequate shelter and 1.4 million are experiencing crisis‑level hunger. In reality, this period has been marked by continued violence and has brought no meaningful improvement to critical humanitarian and health needs that remain largely unmet. 

The parties to the ceasefire pledged full, unhindered humanitarian access through Gaza’s crossings, including up to 600 aid trucks per day and a framework for future reconstruction. It reaffirmed the obligation of all parties³ to ensure security, open crossings, and facilitate humanitarian relief. UN agencies, the ICRC, WHO and other partners were tasked under UN Security Council resolution 2720 with coordinating the response and rebuilding the health system, contingent on sustained donor support. Yet the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza is still being impeded by Israeli forces who maintain control of border crossings and as such, according to the UN, access to health services in Gaza has only marginally improved.

Israeli attacks on Gaza’s health system have not ceased despite the agreement. WHO documented 45 assaults on health facilities and services between January and August 2026. The detention of health workers has also persisted: as of April 2026, 83 medical staff remain in custody, despite growing international demands for their release.

In addition, the health care system remains severely strained by shortages of personnel, as well as Israeli government restrictions on medicines, medical supplies, and fuel. Of the 36 hospitals in Gaza, all of which sustained damage at some point in the war, 20 are now partially functioning; none are fully functional. Capacity has barely improved; for example, available ICU beds have risen by only one bed, from 103 in October 2025 to 104 by July 2026. 

Further, medical evacuations from Gaza to other countries have resumed only at a small scale.  165 patients were evacuated in the first month of the ceasefire, however humanitarian agencies estimated that more than 16,500 people needed medical evacuation at the time of the ceasefire. As of February 2026 the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported that there were more than 18,500 patients in need of medical evacuation.

Reproductive health care remains one of the most neglected sectors, and the ceasefire has not improved health outcomes. Nine months into this period, the UN OCHA reported that nearly 4,000 miscarriages had occurred in the first half of 2026 or 208.5 per 1,000 live births over the period, more than triple the rate recorded in the second half of 2025, and peaked at 377.3 per 1,000 live births in April 2026. OCHA also reported that severe maternal morbidity had risen to 82 cases per 1,000 deliveries, and more than 57 percent of pregnant women were anemic.  Hemorrhage, hypertension, and infection accounted for 92 percent of severe maternal complications. Patients requiring specialized surgical, neonatal, or high-risk obstetric care are not prioritized for medical evacuation and depend on the same restricted crossings and the same slow-moving approval process as every other referral.

Both PHR and MdM have previously reported on the severe challenges women in Gaza face when accessing reproductive health care and the critical complications that this has caused for women and their newborns. The organizations reiterate that this harm is highly foreseeable and preventable.

As a result, pregnant, post-partum, and breastfeeding women in Gaza continue to suffer poor health outcomes including illness, anemia, maternal mortality, as well as poor pregnancy  and neonatal outcomes, including pregnancy loss.

Reproductive and neonatal health in Gaza

Despite the ceasefire, women in Gaza continue to suffer dangerous complications in pregnancy and delivery leading to deteriorating reproductive health outcomes for themselves and their newborns. 

Dr. Ahmed described one patient she saw, “I witnessed a mother who suffered from postpartum hemorrhage. She delivered one month earlier than expected, which is a common occurrence for women in Gaza due to the stress of being under constant bombardment despite there being a so-called ceasefire. Her blood counts at the time of delivery were low, given the inability to consistently access foods with nutritional value, prenatal vitamins, and iron supplementation. She delivered at a hospital that didn’t have the resources to support her, while she almost bled out because the majority of Gaza’s hospitals are only partially functioning.”

Data collected by MdM in August 2026 amongst their patients found a high prevalence of illness among pregnant and breastfeeding women in the preceding three months. 57 percent reported illnesses such as diarrhea, acute respiratory tract infections, skin diseases, and symptoms suggestive of anaemia.

A patient interviewed by MdM shared the compounding challenges, “The hardest part is that I have had to be strong for my children when I am exhausted and afraid. I cannot show them how scared I am because they depend on me. I am the one who needs financial and mental support for absorbing everything.”

The UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory (COI OPT) in its June 2026 report concluded that Israel’s attacks on maternity and neonatal health infrastructure, “have disrupted prenatal care, induced maternal trauma, and contributed to a systemic collapse of the neonatal healthcare system, leading to a rise in miscarriages, premature births, low birth weights, and neonatal mortality, as well as an array of congenital birth defects that has induced lifelong vulnerabilities among newborns.” It emphasized the foreseeable and cumulative consequences of these conditions for children, including newborns, and the long-term harm to Palestinians’ reproductive capacity. 

Gaza’s health information system remains too damaged to produce a reliable, system-wide maternal or neonatal mortality count for 2026; but the figures above collected from facilities and surveillance systems are likely an underestimate.

Acute malnutrition persists

While increased humanitarian access and scaled up nutrition interventions since the ceasefire have resulted in improvements in the number of children in Gaza suffering from acute malnutrition, the IPC projects that over 74,000 children will still require treatment for acute malnutrition through April 2027. Furthermore, these gains should be interpreted modestly, as reductions in acute malnutrition are not equivalent to improved nutritional security. 

Among patients surveyed in August 2026 by MdM, 83 percent of women fell below the minimum dietary diversity threshold of consuming five or more food groups in the last 24 hours. Consumption of meat (15%), fish (4%), and nuts and seeds (10%), as well as key sources of iron, zinc and essential fatty acids, remains marginal, while grains, roots and tubers represent more than 66 percent of the food consumed by surveyed women. Such nutritional deficiency heightens the risk of anemia and poor pregnancy outcomes. In addition to the 93 percent of women reporting anaemia-related symptoms, MdM documented iron-deficiency anemia in 42 percent of pregnant women attending its PHCCs during the first quarter of 2026.

Dr. Ahmed recounted seeing many pregnant patients and breastfeeding mothers struggling with the consequences of malnutrition, “I remember caring for a woman who was 30 weeks pregnant but looked like she was barely through her first trimester. She told us how she had trouble gaining weight because she didn’t have access to consistent meals, and because of the degree of her malnutrition, her immune system was suppressed.” 

The lack of food is not only affecting pregnant women. A MdM patient shared, “My children have changed. They are more frightened, they worry about food, and they do not feel safe. They count every bite and start to calculate how much bread should we eat a day. They have lost the feeling of any normalcy.” 

Food insecurity in Gaza is no longer episodic, it is structural and constitutes a source of anxiety for 90 percent of the patients MdM spoke with, while 84 percent shared that access to nutritious food is very difficult. Reducing food consumption is reportedly the main coping behaviour patients use, including skipping meals and reducing meal size, reported by 60 percent of households. 97 percent of patients surveyed said they have adopted at least one harmful coping mechanism to deal with food insecurity. These coping strategies are not short-term adjustments and heavily affect health outcomes, long-term recovery, and children’s development. 

As one mother shared, “When there is not enough food, parents eat less so children can eat. Parents tell them that they are not hungry, even when they are. I would rather go to sleep hungry myself than see my children go without food.” 

Continuing lack of access to health care 

In August 2026, MdM documented that 42 percent of patients had been unable to access health care in the previous three months. They cited transportation costs, long distances, lack of transport, unavailable or closed facilities, insecurity, and shortages of medicines as the main barriers.

At the same time, repeated displacement continues to disrupt patients’ ability to access and stay connected to care. Since October 2023, 97 percent of patients reported being displaced, nearly half between five and ten times, and one in five more than ten times.

Medical shortages remain acute and, per UN OCHA, are driven by Israeli restrictions on what may enter Gaza as well as funding gaps. Shortages of medicines, diagnostics, and specialized equipment continue to constrain treatment. 

Since the ceasefire was reached MdM has not been allowed to have any trucks with medical supplies enter Gaza⁴, rather the organization has been forced to rely on local, costly purchases and donations from other humanitarian organizations. One MdM clinic was recently forced to shut down due to funding constraints, illustrating how shrinking humanitarian funding further limits the capacity of health actors to maintain service. 

These access challenges are particularly acute  for patients specifically seeking reproductive health care. In March and April 2026, UN OCHA estimated that 572,000 women and girls required reproductive health services, despite limited distributions of reproductive health kits and medicines and while additional supplies remained outside Gaza awaiting access. In October 2026 Physicians for Human Rights–Israel found that medical equipment and supply shortages had not eased during the ceasefire and had, in some instances, worsened. 

Dr. Ahmed saw first hand how these challenges impact reproductive health care and newborn outcomes, “Premature and low birth weight babies don’t have access to advanced oxygen devices such as CPAP to support their premature lungs. The ongoing food shortages and malnutrition have led to mothers struggling to breastfeed their babies, and babies born with congenital heart defects are left to die in the limited number of neonatal ICUs. In fact, one such baby died while waiting for months at Al-Aqsa Hospital for a surgery that should have been performed within 24 hours of birth.”

Conclusion: Israeli government actions have harmed reproductive health in Gaza

One year after the so-called ceasefire, the situation for women and children in Gaza has not improved, and in some cases has worsened. Reproductive health harms persist, while malnutrition and illness have become increasingly chronic. The continued Israeli blockade of aid and the lack of meaningful rehabilitation of the health system have predictably prolonged these harms, undermining Palestinians’ health, reproductive autonomy, and the wellbeing of future generations.

The persistence of barriers to reproductive health care in Gaza following the ceasefire has significant implications for accountability under international law. PHR and MdM’s evidence  supports a finding of reproductive violence having occurred in Gaza and corroborates the findings of the UN Commission of Inquiry concerning the foreseeable and cumulative consequences of attacks on health care and restrictions on essential medical assistance, on reproductive and neonatal health outcomes, and the destruction of reproductive capacity. These developments are also relevant to the ongoing proceedings in South Africa v. Israel, particularly in assessing compliance with the International Court of Justice’s (ICJ) binding provisional measures requiring Israel to prevent acts prohibited by the Genocide Convention – including causing serious bodily or mental harm, inflicting destructive conditions of life, and measures intended to prevent births and to ensure the unhindered provision of humanitarian assistance, including medical supplies and care. The continued documentation of these harms, despite repeated international warnings and judicial orders, is critical to assessing their foreseeability, persistence, and potential legal consequences. 

To ensure recovery for women and children in Gaza and halt ongoing reproductive health harms there is a need for Israeli authorities to immediately stop ongoing violence and allow the full entrance of all necessary humanitarian aid, while the international community prioritizes rebuilding the health infrastructure. It is also critical to pursue accountability under international law for all known harms to women’s reproductive health in Gaza and recognize the long term impact of this reproductive harm and violence. 

“The ongoing war is not only destroying infrastructure and lives. It is destroying the future, womb by womb,” said Dr. Israa Saleh, former sexual and reproductive health advisor at MdM.

Recommendations

To the Israeli authorities:

1. Ensure the implementation of the ceasefire agreement and respect for international human rights and humanitarian law.
2. Ensure, safe, unhindered, and sustained access of humanitarian aid to ensure adequate nutritious food and supplements are available, as well as drugs, medical equipment and consumables. Allow movement of medical personnel and patients, with particular focus on supplies critical to the provision of comprehensive reproductive health care.
3. Cease all attacks on health care and release all Palestinian doctors and medical professionals arbitrarily detained in Israel.
4. Open all medical corridors and allow for the unhindered evacuation of patients and their caregivers requiring urgent medical care outside of Gaza, with guarantees of their return.

To the international community:

1. Employ every diplomatic, economic, and political tool available to stop the ongoing violence and harm to civilians and enforce a permanent and comprehensive ceasefire across the whole of Gaza.
2. Prioritize the recovery of the health care system, with a particularly urgent focus on restoring health facilities providing reproductive health care.
3. Support sexual and reproductive health services as a priority within the humanitarian community.
4. Ensure adherence to international humanitarian law and international human rights law and support independent investigations in case of attacks against health care.
5. Ensure that the focus on Gaza does not shift to a rebuilding narrative while harms from violence are still being seen.
6. Ensure high level of predictable and flexible funding for the emergency humanitarian response aiming at restoring and supporting sexual and reproductive health care and other essential services in Gaza, regardless of the registration status of NGOs.

About the Organizations

Médecins du Monde (MdM) has supported the health system operated primary health care programming in Gaza since 1999, including by operating primary health care programming since the conflict started in October 2023, running 6 health centers across Gaza City and the central and southern zones with 111 staff.  In 2025 MdM analyzed 22,747 sexual and reproductive health consultations between May 2024 and August 2025. More recently, MDM documented the harm of violence and deprivation of essential services on Palestinians’ health, including more specifically on pregnant and lactating women.

Physicians for Human Rights (PHR), together with the University of Chicago’s Global Human Rights Clinic (GHRC), have examined attacks against health care, denial of medical supplies and food, and harm to pregnant women, new mothers, and newborns in Gaza since October 2023 through the lens of reproductive violence, a framework describing acts that interfere with reproductive autonomy, or that are directed at people because of their reproductive capacity, and that under international law may amount to war crimes, crimes against humanity, or genocide.

1.  We recognize that those with reproductive capacity include cis-gender women, non-binary, and other gender-diverse individuals. Throughout this report, we will use the term women to refer specifically to females with reproductive capacity, which may include, where relevant, adolescent girls, while acknowledging the limitations of this terminology.  ↩︎
2. To access medical supplies the organization must make costly local purchases or rely on donations from other humanitarian organizations. ↩︎
3. Parties to ceasefire include Israel and the authorities in the Occupied Palestinian Territory including Hamas. ↩︎
4.  MdM was last allowed to have a truck enter Gaza with medical supplies in March 2025. ↩︎

Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) is a New York-based advocacy organization that uses science and medicine to prevent mass atrocities and severe human rights violations. Learn more here.