Pregnant women in Gaza describe malnutrition and extreme distress caused by Israel's blockade

[Everexpanding]

This cannot be allowed to continue. What can we as mothers do?

www.bbc.com/news/articles/c626ljrp21yo.amp

https://www.thejournal.ie/pregnant-women-in-gaza-malnutrition-6802544-Aug2025/

www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2025/07/01/israel-limits-entry-of-baby-formula-in-gaza-as-infants-die-of-hunger_6742899_4.html

People on this thread have lost the ability to read, to comprehend, to have more than one idea at once and to empathise or see Palestinians as complex humans. There is only one thought allowed on this thread which to blame Israel for everything.

I expect Hamas using child soldiers will only enter people's consciousness when they get killed so people can blame Israel for killing children. Hamas must not be blamed!

Blame Israel.

Blame anyone that supports Israel. Use personal attacks to try to bully them into silence.

Hamas are never blamed apart from as an aside (of course I don't support Hamas but .... the but always being a further attack on Israel.

I've been disgusted by this thread. Its not just the childish twisting people's words, the tapping into tropes (perhaps they don't realise, its so normalised) but the underlying lack of empathy. Its a war of cardboard cut outs.

Agreed.

I fail to see how it benefits anyone to twist people's words and make shit up.

It definitely doesn't benefit anyone in Gaza, it must just be satisfying in some way to the people doing it.

I've been disgusted by this thread.

It has been a very upsetting thread.

I would say the whole situation is very upsetting, Hamas’s actions on October 7th were disgusting I however see no attempt here to consider why Hamas exists no acknowledgment of decades of Israeli human rights violations, settlement expansion, detention without trial etc the situation has not developed in a vacuum.
Israel is currently dropping large bombs on a trapped civilian population, it has bombed civilian infrastructure deliberately and repeatedly this is not acceptable or excusable despite what people here say. It has cut off water amd blocked food and medical supplies from enering in the quantity needed to support the population. Starving people should never be tolerated

I am posting these words again from Holocaust survivors protesting against what is being perpetrated in Gaza. I hope out of respect for them mumsnetters will let this post end this thread as it seems discussion is pointless

Ruth Vleeschhouwer Falak, 89, who survived the Nazi-occupation of the Netherlands as a child, said she was standing there because “in the 1930s, if Germans had stood up loudly against the Nazi party, maybe they wouldn’t have been able to do what they did to us. Speaking up is not a choice for me.”

“The saying is never again; that means never again for anybody. That’s really what we’re standing here for,” added Ilana Drukker Tokotin, 87, who spent her childhood in hiding from the Nazis.

Veronika Cohen, 80, a Holocaust survivor who was born in the ghetto in Budapest, said she had come to protest outside Yad Vashem on the day of remembrance because: “I don’t think we can remember our suffering without acknowledging the suffering of Gaza, the deaths of tens of thousands of children, the starvation that’s going on this minute, for which we are partially responsible. It occupies the same place in my heart.She acknowledged that she was in the minority in Israel when it came to speaking up about the terrible cost of the war to Palestinian life. “People here see Palestinians as the other and that’s why they have created a barrier,” she said. “They have managed not to feel their pain and I find that incomprehensible. To me, when I read the stories of their suffering in Gaza, it blends completely into how I feel about the Holocaust.Cohen’s eyes filled with tears as she recalled seeing a recent photo of a young Palestinian boy whose arms had been blown off by Israeli missile strikes in Gaza. “The news story said that when he woke up from his operation, the first thing he did was turn to his mother, and he said: ‘how will I hug you now?’ To me, that’s a Holocaust story. And that’s why we are here: to try to awaken people to their pain in any way we can.”

Make your mind up. This thread was about the predicament of pregnant women. Now you're berating us for not discussing the roots of Hamas or the last few decades of Israeli policy. You seem to be derailing your own thread, and not for the first time!

…and even then it’s caveated with a “this didn’t start on 7 Oct” or “what did Israel think would happen?! They had no other choice. Israel is creating generations of terrorists with its continued campaign of genocidal mania”.

This thread, apart from being particularly nasty, shows how entrenched people are. They’re unwilling to even countenance a differing version of their point. Not the opposite of their point, just a different take. No-one on this thread thinks that the situation of pregnant women in Gaza is fine. No-one. The problem comes with the solution. Some think writing to MPs to call for sanctions against Israel is going or marches is the best solution, others think releasing the hostages or Hamas surrendering is the best, and quickest, solution.

The one thing everyone agrees on is that pregnant women suffering is awful.

One section of posters is allowed to say that and the other isn’t.

Right on cue…

I am posting these words again from Holocaust survivors protesting against what is being perpetrated in Gaza. I hope out of respect for them mumsnetters will let this post end this thread as it seems discussion is pointless
Ruth Vleeschhouwer Falak, 89, who survived the Nazi-occupation of the Netherlands as a child, said she was standing there because “in the 1930s, if Germans had stood up loudly against the Nazi party, maybe they wouldn’t have been able to do what they did to us. Speaking up is not a choice for me.”
“The saying is never again; that means never again for anybody. That’s really what we’re standing here for,” added Ilana Drukker Tokotin, 87, who spent her childhood in hiding from the Nazis.
Veronika Cohen, 80, a Holocaust survivor who was born in the ghetto in Budapest, said she had come to protest outside Yad Vashem on the day of remembrance because: “I don’t think we can remember our suffering without acknowledging the suffering of Gaza, the deaths of tens of thousands of children, the starvation that’s going on this minute, for which we are partially responsible. It occupies the same place in my heart.She acknowledged that she was in the minority in Israel when it came to speaking up about the terrible cost of the war to Palestinian life. “People here see Palestinians as the other and that’s why they have created a barrier,” she said. “They have managed not to feel their pain and I find that incomprehensible. To me, when I read the stories of their suffering in Gaza, it blends completely into how I feel about the Holocaust.Cohen’s eyes filled with tears as she recalled seeing a recent photo of a young Palestinian boy whose arms had been blown off by Israeli missile strikes in Gaza. “The news story said that when he woke up from his operation, the first thing he did was turn to his mother, and he said: ‘how will I hug you now?’ To me, that’s a Holocaust story. And that’s why we are here: to try to awaken people to their pain in any way we can.”

"Some think writing to MPs to call for sanctions against Israel is going or marches is the best solution, others think releasing the hostages or Hamas surrendering is the best, and quickest, solution.*

So we just sit around and watch Israel starve pregnant women and children until Hamas surrender? You genuinely think that that is 'the quickest way' to sit around and let Israel use food as a weapon of war until Hamas surrender?

In the absence of Hamas surrendering absolutely Israel allowing aid agencies to feed people is the answer. That is something that our governments can have some control over. They don't trade with Hamas, they have no leverage with Hamas whatsoever. Without the EU, their biggest trading partner, Israel will be on its knees. Israel need us, Hamas don't. So absolutely we can make Israel allow pregnant women to have food and absolutely when there is a way to do that, to ease the suffering of the most vulnerable people in Gaza, there should be a moral imperative on us to do so. Israel signed an agreement with us and they broke it. So ask your Meps to take action. Stop trade with Israel until they stop starving mums and babies. They can stop it tomorrow, they just don't want to, so let's force them to.

Well personally I don't live in Turkey so can't write to my representatives there. I don't live in a NATO country so nothing I can do there. I don't live in a country that deals arms to anybody because we are one the most peaceful countries in the world and don't fuel wars, so can't lobby my representatives there. The EU doesn't sell arms either so can't do anything there.

You agree that there should be more aid, you don't agree with sitting around and doing nothing maybe you can share what you have done then so that people who also share your view that Israel just letting more aid in and not purposefully starving mums and babies isn't the answer can also do something.

This is painful. You can write to your representatives to apply pressure in the correct places. You dont need to live in Qatar or Turkey or Israel or Gaza to ask your representatives, wherever they are, to formulate effective foreign and trade policy.

You just quoted me then deliberately twisted what you quoted.

I do think the quickest way for this war to end is for Hamas to release the hostages.

You appear to be exonerating Hamas from participating in the end to this war I think because they are a terrorist organisation so can’t be influenced or bargained with. Is that correct? As Israel is the only entity a government can impose sanctions on, they are entirely responsible for everything. Let Hamas do what they want because we can’t send them sternly worded letters or place trade embargo’s on them. You’re right though. Hamas don’t need us because they have Qatar and Iran and all the other states/organisations that fund and support them.

You may want to examine why you’re so keen to see Israel “on its knees” but aren’t putting as much energy into seeing Hamas removed from power.

If you want to stop the starvation in Israel immediately, why aren’t you demanding the UN works with the GHF to deliver the 000s of tons of aid currently sitting in Gaza? They could surely get over their dislike of GHF in order to help those starving Palestinians? How about getting the Palestinians who have food to share that around? Why not force them to buy an extra crepe and give it away? (NB that is a throughly facetious and ridiculous question but you seem to be either unaware or deliberately ignoring the fact that there are plenty of places in Gaza that could provide food to these starving mums but seem to lack the compassion to do so. You’d rather bring Israel to its knees than deal with the the issue that there is food in Gaza that isn’t being shared equally by the Gazans).

I see the GHF is delivering 1.5 million meals a day now for a population of 2 million.

That is just the GHF, not the UN who are actually responsible for the main aid distribution.

Surely the UN have enough aid to get food to the other 0.5 million people in Gaza?

Why are they letting most of it be looted? Why are they not asking for help to protect it?

How far do people have to travel outside of the famine zone to get to an aid distribution site does anyone know?

Gaza is tiny, why are the UN not setting up aid convoys to Gaza city for those who can’t get there?

My deleted post pointed out that you were twisting people's words. Nobody has suggested we 'sit around and watch'. Everyone agrees increased aid is needed.
And actually we do have leverage with Hamas. Qatar is a big arms trade partner for the UK and Qatar has leverage with Hamas. Qatar is a much bigger arms partner than Israel. If Hamas's income streams and cosy places to hideout and regroup were cut off they would be finished. Turkey has leverage with Hamas. The are in Nato. Saudi has levetage with Hamas. One of the UK's biggests arms partners. Noone's buying the argument that nothing can be done about Hamas or that only Israel should carry that burden.
Dealing with Hamas could and should be part of the international community's approach to this conflict. And anyone anywhere can write to their elected reps and say so. Stick it on a banner and march for it too,if you really think that sort of thing works.

And to add. Don't tell me you care about Palestinians if you aren't prepared to do something about Hamas.

Did you miss the UN report stating they have credible evidence that the IDF are raping Palestinians in Gaza? How utterly naive that you think women in war zones have the choice to not have sex. At least, I hope you are naive and are saying the same thing about pregnant Ukrainian and Sudanese women and aren’t being deliberately obtuse.

Huge baby booms after the Rape of Nanking and the Rape of Berlin too…many WWII “baby booms” were not due to consensual sex.

Dealing with Hamas could and should be part of the international community's approach to this conflict.

From my perspective, this has been the international community’s approach to the conflict. However it appears that every time Hamas agrees to a ceasefire & surrender proposal, Israel either rejects it outright or egregiously violates it soon after it starts.

I don’t know how/why you think no one who is for ending the war has not also been dealing with Hamas or putting pressure on them.

I see the GHF is delivering 1.5 million meals a day now for a population of 2 million.

It isn’t 1.5m meals per day- that was just on one good day. The aid distribution centres are not open every day. In fact, they distribute an average of 2.3m meals per week, which is pretty much 1 meal per week per person in Gaza.

How far do people have to travel outside of the famine zone to get to an aid distribution site does anyone know? Many kilometres on foot and through active combat zones to reach the tiny number of GHF distribution sites which is totally unacceptable and not at all how any legitimate humanitarian aid program is ever run. It is also why more Palestinians have been killed trying to get aid at GHF sites than all the Israelis killed on Oct 7th.