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

No I raised the issue that characterising the oppressed as rapists is a common racist trope, it has been used by such charming people as the KKK , used by the likes of Tommy Robinson to attack immigrants today.
The aim is to dehumanise a population and provide a sort of warped justification for any attacks on them,

@Hamiltonfan can you explain the purpose of your post? What is your point?

Of course. She is happy for her children to be martyred. Hamas want Palestinian women to keep having babies so they (a) have more martyrs and (b) can blame their deaths on Israel.
As a society we should be questioning how we deal with this level of fundamentalism.

Noone was 'characterising the oppressed as rapists'. I and others merely pointed out that some women will have been raped and that that is an additional trauma in a horrible situation and then men had to shoulder some responsibility for the situation too.

And I don't think acknowledging the behaviour of men and misogyny in Palestinian society justifies attacks on them. I do think some solidarity with Palestinian women would be justified.

But no one has been characterising the oppressed as rapists in this thread. It has been acknowledged that people in Gaza live under different laws to us in the West and thus a husband wouldn’t be accused of raping his wife even if she was reluctant. But we can still feel sorry for these women and babies.

We are not the KKK or Tommy Robinson, so please don’t compare us to them. We are women concerned about other women and questioning if they have all have choice about getting pregnant under what are extremely difficult circumstances to put it mildly.

So are you suggesting that Palestinian women want to be bombed or starved? Or that the correct response to Muslim fundamentalism is to bomb and starve a whole population?

religious fundamentalism tends to thrive in times of crisis and despair but lose it’s attraction when populations are happy and thriving so would suggest bombing and starving and entire population not the way to go

But Hamas and the authoritarian fundamentalism they espouse has a bearing on this situation. And It was Arafat who said the Arab woman's womb was his greatest weapon, long before Hamas so I think there is a lot of culture to unpick here. Women bear the brunt, as always.

Seems it is a problem on both sides

”Golda Meir encouraged new settlers to ‘out birth’ the indigenous Arab population, and Yasser Arafat retaliated in the same vein.”

Yes i think it is incredibly important that we keep putting pressure on politicians to respond to this. I'm in the EU and have been writing to meps on this. Israel are in breach of our trade agreements and are the recipients of billions in funding from the EU. This needs to stop until they can begin acting in line with the values of the EU.

This situation reached crisis point a long time ago, Israel are moving forward with their plan to push the population south and this plan involves stopping aid to Northern Gaza in an attempt to starve people including pregnant women and children from their homes. It needs to end now.

Yes, as I mentioned up thread I thought there had been pressure on some Israeli women to make sure they have babies to keep population levels growing. Not surprising when you consider the destruction of the Jewish population in so much of Europe. How it manifests itself in reality I know less about. Women in Israel have more rights than Palestinians e.g. marital rape is illegal in Israel but not in Gaza which will have a bearing on their relative autonomy and agency.

I can't see that quote in the link you put. Golda Meir was a long time ago. I don't think Hamas's expecting women to bear children is in response to her. The subjugation of women through childbirth is pretty characteristic of religious fundamentalism.

Variety of reasons, but primarily because of past history of Palestinians causing civil unrest when they’re in other countries (see Black September, Lebanon, Kuwait). There’s also the view that if the civilian population is evacuated then they won’t be allowed back which the Arab states don’t want so they have to stay put.

It’s entirely possible for a large number of civilians to be evacuated…just see Ukraine. It’s yet another peculiarity with Palestine that the preferred options is to force millions of civilians to remain in an active war zone for political reasons.

Hamas also doesn’t want them to leave as then they lose their human shields. Through the warm Israel has been informing the civilians where they’re going to be operating and Hamas have been telling the people to stay put. They use the movement of their own people as a defensive strategy.

I find it interesting that many people on this thread seem to be more concerned about the pregnant women of Gaza than Hamas are.

Thanks @GladioliGreen i think sanctions are the only way this will end but progress is glacial and more innocent civilians are being killed every day.

Palestinians should not be being displaced from their own land

So Ukrainians should have stayed put?

You actively want civilians in the line of fire in a very small active war zone?

Interesting…

Then sex should Be the last thing they’d want if they are starving to death🤷‍♀️ surely as adults they know the consequences and they usually have other children so are already seeing them struggling for food etc!

I think Ukrainians have also expressed that they do not wish to lose any Ukrainian land to Russia and Putin is being rightly sanctioned for his aggression. Ukranians were able to flee Palestinians are trapped as the borders are closed on all sides so they are trapped like fish in a barrel. This is not their fault the blame as in Ukraine lies with the state dropping bombs on their territory

This disgusting argument that blames Palestinians for their own suffering through having the temerity to have sex, has already been discussed and dismantled on this thread, please do not post if that is what you have to add

I would like to see a worldwide women’s strike for the women of Gaza. Just so terrible that nothing is being done

Its strange isn't. I understand the politics, of course but the path to peace, and a more likely return, would surely be strengthened by wanting the evacuation of the vulnerable, leaving behind Hamas to be destroyed.

No the situations are not equivalent. Ukraine was invaded by Russia entirely unprovked. Ukraine's main concern the protecting its civilians, so it evacuated 1000s of them. Hamas instigated this war with an attack on Israel and has gone out of its way to put its civilians in harm's way.

It hasn't been dismatled. You just called everyone racist!

Yes if women and their children could have been offered the chance to evacuate if they wanted to, there would have been far fewer deaths.

I think there is one already. Every thursday I believe.