0:04

From the Center for Investigative Reporting

0:06

and PRX, this is Reveal. I'm

0:08

Al Letzen. Back in

0:10

October, just a few weeks after

0:13

the Hamas attack on Israel and

0:15

the Israeli counterattack that followed, a

0:18

Palestinian journalist named Bassan Oda

0:20

visited Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City.

0:24

Bassan makes her way to the maternity

0:26

ward. She's

0:31

interviewing women for the United Nations Population

0:34

Fund about what it's like to be

0:36

pregnant and give birth in this war.

0:44

The stories are hard to listen to. A

0:47

30-year-old woman is in the hospital

0:49

after having a miscarriage while her

0:51

neighborhood was bombed. Another woman

0:53

tells the reporter she just had

0:56

a C-section after her house was

0:58

bombed. Her

1:05

older son was killed in the bombing. Paying

1:15

close attention to these stories were two

1:18

reporters based in New York, Gabrielle

1:20

Burbe and Salman Ahad Khan.

1:23

They wanted to know more about the women in

1:25

Gaza who were pregnant, and there are 155,000

1:30

pregnant and breastfeeding women at

1:32

high risk of malnutrition in Gaza

1:34

right now, according to the United

1:36

Nations. How

1:38

are these women planning for their deliveries?

1:41

What's it like for doctors caring for them

1:43

and their newborns? We

1:46

start with the story of one expectant

1:48

mother, who Salman and Gabrielle were able

1:50

to connect with by phone in November,

1:52

about five weeks into the war. Hey,

2:00

it's Alumna Aldrayes. Hi, Alumna.

2:04

Her name is Alumna Aldrayes.

2:07

Can you hear me? Yeah,

2:09

yeah, I can hear you, yes. The

2:12

connection is pretty weak. Alumna

2:15

is in Gaza, and it's November 15th.

2:18

We're going to have some internet connection

2:20

while we are talking. She's

2:23

from Gaza City. She has

2:25

two teenage daughters and is pregnant with

2:27

her third child. How many

2:29

months pregnant are you right now? I

2:33

am in the second month right now. I

2:35

think so. Alumna

2:38

is 42 years old, so

2:40

she's high risk. And she'll

2:42

need a C-section. She

2:44

had C-sections when she delivered her two daughters,

2:47

so she'll need one again. Right

2:50

now, this is her biggest worry.

2:53

How will she give birth in a

2:55

war zone? Some women are reportedly being

2:57

forced to have C-section deliveries in

2:59

the dark and without anesthesia. Others

3:02

have suffered miscarriages triggered by the trauma

3:05

of trying to survive Israel's war. Because

3:07

of Israel's siege, there's barely any

3:10

anesthesia in hospitals. So

3:12

doctors are having to pick which

3:14

procedures get anesthesia and which

3:16

ones don't. Eight

3:19

organizations have started handing out these

3:21

emergency delivery kits to pregnant women

3:23

like Alumna. The kits

3:25

have a bar of soap, gloves,

3:28

scissors, umbilical tape,

3:31

a plastic sheet to deliver on, and a

3:33

pamphlet instructing women how to

3:36

deliver their own babies. It's

3:38

like a nightmare. All the time

3:40

I'm thinking about the promise discussion

3:42

that I have to deliver my

3:45

baby by C-section. Alumna

3:47

is due in eight weeks, and

3:50

her delivery feels like a time bomb. I

3:53

feel depressed. I feel down,

3:55

really. This is not the life

3:58

we used to have. In

4:04

the life she used to have, Lumna ran

4:06

an elementary school in Gaza. A

4:08

prestigious one. The American International

4:11

School. She met her husband

4:13

in Gaza City. He owned a clothing store

4:15

there. They got an apartment together. Had

4:18

two daughters. This pregnancy was her

4:20

first after 14 years. It

4:23

was a surprise. Just

4:26

before the war, they had a gender reveal party.

4:28

Her doctor and her whole family helped

4:30

plan it. My doctor,

4:33

he put the gender in the

4:36

envelope. My brother, he took it

4:38

and he put the blue car in

4:40

a balloon. She

4:46

found out she's having a boy. They

4:50

want to name him after his grandfather, Fati. She'd

4:55

already planned what his birth would look like. It

4:57

would be with her whole family in

5:00

her hospital in Gaza City. And

5:02

I dream about how I'm

5:05

going to hold the baby in my hand. Yani,

5:09

I think it will be great. But

5:13

even in that life, she and her

5:15

husband had arguments about leaving Gaza. He

5:18

wanted to leave. She didn't. They'd

5:21

lived through five wars already. He

5:24

was done with life there. But Gaza

5:26

is her home. I'm

5:29

very related to my city. I love

5:31

my city Gaza. And I don't like to

5:34

leave my family. Why to leave my family? And

5:37

why to leave my city? And

5:39

I was dreaming about building

5:42

this city and about

5:45

teaching and education. But

5:49

now I think

5:52

no future for us here. Lubna

5:56

didn't think any of the wars would get as bad

5:59

as this one. We can

6:01

still see more, they are destroying

6:03

everything. Since this

6:05

war started, Lumna's been having nightmares

6:07

about her delivery. In

6:09

one nightmare, she gets to the hospital

6:11

and they tell her they have to

6:13

do her C-section without anesthesia. In

6:16

another, the hospital is bombed as

6:19

she's delivering. It's

6:21

mid-November and Lumna can't even get

6:23

to a hospital. Women

6:26

are delivering wherever they can, in the

6:29

streets, shelters, and

6:31

cars. A month earlier,

6:34

on October 10th, Lumna had

6:36

to evacuate her home in the north, in

6:38

Gaza City. They left in the

6:40

middle of the night. She

6:46

said when they ran out in their pajamas,

6:48

they only grabbed a bag with their passports

6:50

and some emergency supplies. Now,

6:53

they're in Kanyunas, with 30 family

6:55

members. It's a

6:58

city about 20 miles south from Gaza City.

7:01

The Israeli military said they would be

7:03

safer in Kanyunas, but Israel has

7:05

begun bombing there too. Thousands

7:08

of people have started sheltering at one

7:10

of the hospitals closest to Lumna, called

7:12

Nasser Hospital. So,

7:14

Lumna's afraid to leave the house, let

7:17

alone go to a hospital. Even

7:20

though they are not safe places, even bombing things, because, yeah,

7:22

this is something scary. But

7:31

people, where should they be left? I don't

7:33

know. At

7:37

this stage, being older, high-risk, and

7:39

in the third trimester, she

7:41

should be having multiple ultrasounds, and

7:43

also doctor's appointments at least every

7:46

week. But

7:48

she hasn't seen any doctor since the war

7:50

started. Nasser

7:53

Hospital is running out of fuel and water,

7:56

and doctors there are reporting that women are

7:58

bleeding to death during the war. their deliveries.

8:01

And if Lumna delivers there early, there's

8:04

a chance the hospital won't have fuel for

8:06

incubators. At Al-Shifa Hospital,

8:08

Gaza's largest hospital, 31 premature

8:11

babies were just evacuated because that

8:13

hospital ran out of fuel. Then

8:17

on November 23rd, Hamas and Israel

8:19

have agreed on a

8:21

humanitarian pause in Gaza. There's

8:23

news of a ceasefire for the next day.

8:26

The humanitarian pause

8:28

will allow the entry of

8:30

a large number of aid

8:32

convoys, including fuel for humanitarian

8:34

needs. Lumna thinks

8:36

that maybe she'll see a doctor

8:38

then. Around this time, the phone

8:40

connections get worse. So

8:43

she starts sending voice

8:45

memos. Hi Gabriel, it's

8:48

6pm. She does not sound good.

8:50

I became sick. I

8:52

catch a bad flu. During

8:55

the humanitarian

8:58

pause, I

9:00

was able to go to a doctor

9:02

clinic, which has

9:05

ultrasound. I waited there about

9:09

three hours waiting for my turn.

9:16

The power went out just as she was about to

9:18

have her appointment. The doctor had

9:20

backup power, but said that he could

9:22

only take three women. Lumna

9:24

was one of them. When the doctor

9:27

told me the ultrasound

9:29

was normal, I

9:31

was happy, thank God. And I asked

9:34

him about the weight of the baby

9:37

because we are not having healthy foods

9:39

right now. And he told

9:41

me everything is okay. Now,

9:47

Lumna is due in four weeks. She's been having contractions from all the stress

9:50

of the bombing. So she asks the doctor

9:52

if he has anything that could delay her delivery,

9:54

just until the war is over. But

10:01

the doctor tells her she doesn't need that right

10:03

now. The humanitarian

10:05

pause lasts only seven days. And

10:08

after, the Israeli military begins bombing

10:10

Khan Yunus again, where Lubna and

10:12

her family are. And

10:15

this time, even harder. We

10:18

wake up in the morning and

10:20

even in the night when we sleep, bombing

10:23

got all around today,

10:27

they bombed

10:29

a building. It

10:32

was very close to us. The

10:34

Israeli military begins circulating maps

10:36

online and dropping leaflets from

10:38

planes. They're instructing sections

10:41

of neighborhoods to evacuate even further

10:43

south to Rafa, on the border

10:45

with Egypt. But

10:47

the problem is Gabriel and Salman

10:49

that we don't have a place

10:51

to go there. What shall

10:54

we do? I

10:56

don't know what Israelis need or what

10:58

Israelis want. We evacuated

11:01

from our home, from our city,

11:04

from Gaza to the south to Khan Yunus

11:06

as they told us. And now they are

11:08

telling us to go

11:10

to evacuate, move to the south.

11:13

Where shall we go? Really? Shall

11:16

we stay in the streets? The

11:21

next day, we get a text from her. It

11:24

says, I left to Rafa. She

11:28

sends us pictures of what looks

11:30

like a building under construction, with

11:32

small, bare, paint

11:35

and water stains dripping down the walls. There

11:38

are a few mats on the floor, bags pushed

11:40

to the side, shoes neatly

11:42

placed in a line along the corner. Her

11:45

text says, look, this

11:48

is our situation. She's

11:51

in a refugee camp and there are

11:53

25 family members with her. Lumna's

12:00

due date is in just a few weeks. The

12:03

nearest hospital is a field hospital, the United

12:05

Arab Emirates set up just a few days

12:07

earlier. Then,

12:10

Lumna goes dark, stops responding

12:13

to our messages. We

12:15

write again a few days later, still

12:18

nothing. We

12:20

don't know if she's had her baby, if

12:22

she's still in Rafa, or

12:25

if she's even alive. What

12:28

we do know is that she is a sister

12:30

in Canada. She told us on one

12:32

of the calls. And

12:34

we hear there's a WhatsApp group

12:37

of Palestinian-Canadians. Since

12:39

the start of the war, they've been lobbying the

12:41

government to get their family members out of Gaza.

12:44

We ask someone in the group if anyone

12:46

there knows Lumna, or who

12:49

her sister is. One

12:52

person connects us to their friend, who

12:55

connects us to another person, and then to

12:57

another. And through

12:59

this winding network, we get

13:01

a name and a number. For

13:04

Awafah Al-Reyas. Lumna's

13:09

sister. After

13:17

the break, Gabrielle and Salman try

13:20

to reach Lumna's sister in Canada.

13:22

You're listening to Reveal. At

13:40

Radiolab, we love nothing

13:43

more than nerding out

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about science. Neuroscience, chemistry.

13:47

But we do also like to

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13:51

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Of bugs. Regardless of whether we're looking

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14:00

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anew. Radiolab, adventures on the edge of what

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we think we know. Wherever

14:09

you get your podcasts. From the

14:11

Center for Investigative Reporting in PRX,

14:13

this is Reveal. I'm Al

14:16

Letzen. Reporters Gabrielle

14:18

Burbé and Salman Ahad Khan

14:20

had spent a month talking

14:22

to Luna Al-Reyez when they

14:24

lost contact. She

14:26

was one of hundreds of thousands of

14:29

people who'd evacuated to Rafa in the

14:31

south of Gaza. Lubna

14:33

was pregnant, supposed to give birth in a

14:35

few weeks. Gabrielle and Salman

14:38

didn't know what had happened to her, so

14:40

they tried to find her sister who they

14:42

heard was in Canada. They

14:44

tried to reach her through Facebook but couldn't find her.

14:46

But then they connected with

14:49

a WhatsApp group of Palestinian Canadians.

14:52

One thing led to another, and then

14:54

finally on December 16th. Hi,

14:57

good morning. I'm Gabrielle, I'm here with

14:59

my colleague Salman. Lubna's sister,

15:01

Wafaa, is in Toronto.

15:04

And she's only been there for

15:06

one month. I was evacuated from Gaza

15:08

Strip. Oh, wow. Yeah, yeah. I

15:11

was stuck there for about more than a

15:13

month with my two sons. And

15:17

I was with Lubna in the same place,

15:19

actually. Oh, my God. Yeah,

15:21

yeah. Wafaa had talked to Lubna

15:24

recently. She's alive and has

15:26

a very good life. She hasn't delivered yet. And

15:29

she's still in Rafa. We

15:32

end up talking about the first moments of the war. She

15:35

said on October 7th, she and her two

15:37

sons, one 12, the other one 8,

15:40

were in their apartment in Gaza City. And

15:44

then her husband got a call from the

15:46

Israeli military. They had to

15:48

leave immediately. So she

15:50

went to her parents' house. Then

15:52

it became worse and worse and worse.

15:56

And then a knock on the door. It

15:58

was Lubna. The way they're

16:01

running and and. Pride

16:03

and and Is Edmunds Can you imagine

16:05

that? Will. Fall and

16:07

Luna stayed at her parents' house for a few

16:09

days. And then they

16:11

got another call. They. Had to

16:14

evacuate again. This time

16:16

out of Gaza City.

16:18

Effect. Imagine that you're

16:20

living to hide yesterday, right? To

16:23

get you. What took you to

16:25

Putrid Cisco's right to decide.

16:27

You go to to the

16:29

gym appear in the morning

16:32

Jim was destroyed. You go

16:34

to the cross same as

16:36

destroyed. Go back to my

16:38

house and destroyed. Everything

16:41

to destroy. Every single thanks.

16:44

There's nothing less. You know

16:46

what I'm saying. You say? your

16:48

new. There's nothing. There's nothing

16:50

left. For.

16:56

Far and Luna left together to

16:59

communists. And. They were glad

17:01

to at least be together. The.

17:03

Two Sisters have always been close.

17:06

Little. Get an essay day! We as

17:08

the don't see each other every day.

17:10

We took over the fall on what's

17:12

app meet you cause. Both.

17:15

Thought was weird Luna when Luna told

17:17

her family she was pregnant again. She

17:28

said most excited and a

17:30

little nervous. She said it's

17:32

want me an easy job

17:34

this baby I know she's

17:36

older, forty two. But

17:39

ultimately when the baby was a

17:41

guest, Months.

17:46

Later when the sisters evacuated to

17:48

Khan Yunis will fire notices teams

17:50

and look now. Have a

17:53

soul hearts sitting in pink old.

17:55

While talking to anyone. Telling

17:57

third suppress can be okay. How

18:00

can you need? It was fun for

18:02

me to fix. To

18:04

paint another baby to this and

18:06

Anthony words. Know. What

18:10

did you tell her when? she? when when she said that?

18:13

I. Kept telling her things will be

18:15

okay this fabulous com and bring joy

18:17

top or lives. Have.

18:20

You ever seen Lumina

18:22

like this before? So

18:24

client. Or. No No

18:26

No. As open as his service

18:29

there is a very positive person.

18:31

She's a happy person. I should

18:33

get so dense as the one.

18:37

Hundred. Cats. She's going through this. On

18:42

November seventh, Canada announced it evacuated

18:44

the first group of Canadian citizens

18:47

out of Gaza. Of

18:49

Us husband is the Canadian citizen

18:51

so she and her kids they

18:53

also have Canadian citizenship and their

18:55

names are on that first list.

18:58

When I had my name on the less to is

19:00

that you with Denzel. Ah

19:03

when they left with I could say goodbye to

19:05

my mom and dad's I didn't say goodbye to

19:07

anyone to sort of that says he was saying

19:09

and the same place. And

19:11

you know when I left to it's like. A

19:15

cancer you look. I felt. Like

19:17

I'm leaving her to death. I

19:22

heard adults a stiff telling me things

19:24

on t three with you can you

19:26

imagine. What? I said that time. In

19:31

My life. More. Valuable

19:34

than there's no snow. Are

19:37

much more important to me And this

19:39

is no, they're not. I

19:43

just. Feel like I left

19:46

my parents and my family to

19:48

death. And

20:01

too far made it out of Gaza.

20:04

She's been calling the Canadian Immigration and

20:06

Refugee offices almost every day telling them

20:08

to get look out before her. To

20:11

date, in January. I told

20:13

them she's pregnant. And shale a shimmering

20:15

as. He section as her said okay

20:17

I'll the is a day one. Try

20:19

to do what they can. When she

20:22

doesn't call, she emails. And

20:24

she gets the same response to every

20:26

message. We. Know that is very

20:28

difficult time for and line Gaza. Clean.

20:31

Inside your family to do what they

20:33

can't have faith that we as to

20:35

see what you're going through. We appreciate

20:37

the hard time. They

20:40

don't lean on cat person and they don't

20:42

care in a wants me don't care. For.

20:47

Far as when of nearly

20:49

fifty thousand Palestinians and Canada.

20:51

And. Many of them are trying to

20:53

get their family members out of Gaza.

20:56

The been organizing for months speaking to

20:58

the press and calling on their members

21:00

of parliament to do something anything to

21:03

get their family members out. And

21:06

then and lead. december. Something.

21:09

Sign We happens. The

21:11

Canadian government announces l evacuate

21:13

the family members of Canadian

21:15

citizens. Maybe the fuck

21:17

is sign Only get Luna out before her

21:20

due date. But.

21:22

She's not optimistic. I

21:24

don't think it's enough. First.

21:27

Canada. Won't even open applications

21:30

to evacuate anyone until January

21:32

ninth. That's about twenty

21:34

days away, And. Then I

21:36

beat too late for lameness. Delivery. And

21:39

Will thought doesn't know if her sister

21:41

will even be allies. And twenty days

21:44

Jersey Gov G F my family will

21:46

be seize on. Send myself January know.

21:49

Who. Then

21:51

there's the problem with the requirements.

21:54

To actually qualify for the program.

21:56

The. Canadian government on it applicants

21:58

to provide documentation. like biometric

22:00

data, a record of

22:02

every passport they've ever held, even

22:05

a record of every scar they have on

22:07

their bodies, an employment history since

22:09

the age of 16. But

22:13

a lot of that wasn't possible for people. So

22:16

many of them had evacuated their homes with

22:18

just a few minutes warning. They

22:20

didn't have anything with them. Family

22:24

members began pointing out that when the war

22:26

in Ukraine started, Ukrainians didn't even

22:28

have to be related to Canadian citizens

22:31

to qualify. There was no

22:33

cap on how many people could apply, and Ukrainians

22:36

coming to Canada were offered financial

22:38

support. Palestinians

22:41

in Canada were asking, why can't

22:43

we have the same thing for our

22:45

families? You want to help? Just

22:48

help. Just don't let

22:50

us just wait and wait and

22:52

wait. Just do

22:54

something. Many people

22:56

died in one day. You know that? Hundreds

22:59

of people. Have

23:01

you spoken with Lubna recently? Yesterday,

23:04

actually. Actually, I

23:06

keep telling her that she has to

23:10

drink lots of juice and lots

23:12

of water and bread juice, and

23:14

she said, okay, you know, we

23:16

don't have juice right now. We

23:18

can't have juice. Two days after Wafaz'

23:20

conversation with Lubna, we get a text

23:22

from Lubna. It's the first

23:24

time we've heard from her in weeks, and

23:26

her due date is just days away.

23:30

So I get real.

23:33

Today is Sunday, and

23:36

now it's 8.20

23:39

in the evening, and

23:41

I'm recording from the

23:44

south of Gaza Strip in

23:47

Rofah city. There's a low

23:49

humming in the background. And

23:51

that noise is the war

23:54

plants, Israeli plants. Israeli

23:56

drones. They hover over

23:58

the refugee camps. in Rafa. Since

24:02

coming to Rafa, Loomna hasn't

24:04

seen any doctors, and

24:06

she still dreams of returning home to

24:09

Gaza City after her baby is born.

24:13

I wish I could have my baby

24:16

after everything was finished and

24:18

I can go back to my home and

24:20

to have my deliver or my

24:22

due date safely

24:24

in my home and in my

24:27

city in Gaza City. So

24:32

January 9th comes, the day the program

24:35

in Canada launches, and then

24:37

it passes. Canada

24:40

doesn't evacuate anyone. Then

24:43

Loomna's due date arrives, and

24:45

it passes, and Rafa

24:47

and Loomna aren't responding to texts.

24:51

The news keeps reporting the same thing.

24:53

No one is getting

24:55

out of Gaza through Canada's program.

24:59

And then a few days later, I get

25:01

a text. It's

25:03

from Wulfa. She says

25:06

Loomna delivered. And

25:08

she and the baby are in Egypt.

25:13

Hi, Gabrielle.

25:18

Hi, Selma. Hi. Hi. Loomna, it's so

25:20

good to hear from you. How are you doing?

25:29

I'm okay.

25:32

I'm recovering.

25:36

So you delivered your

25:38

baby? Yeah,

25:42

I have delivered my baby on

25:44

the 17th of January.

25:47

Oh my God. Congratulations.

25:49

How is the baby?

25:52

He's very cute. I

25:55

am so happy now with the

25:57

baby that he's in a good

25:59

health. He's

26:02

okay and because it has been

26:04

a long time since I had

26:07

a baby so it's a nice

26:09

feeling. Yeah. What's his name? Fatih.

26:12

As his grandfather. Oh my God. Yeah, as

26:14

his grandfather. Yeah. Are

26:20

your daughters and your husband with you? Yeah,

26:22

my daughters and my husband, my

26:24

mother, my father, my sisters, their

26:27

husbands, my brothers, their wives,

26:30

my aunt, her family.

26:33

Yeah, all of us, we

26:35

go out of Gaza. Lumna

26:38

and her family, they're in Cairo now. They

26:42

didn't get out through Canada's official program. No

26:45

one had gotten out through Canada's program. Instead,

26:48

Lumna and her family evacuated with

26:50

the help from cousins in Egypt.

26:54

People trying to get out of Gaza were checking

26:56

a Facebook page where every day

26:58

a list was posted with

27:00

names of people who could cross into

27:02

Egypt. It was maybe

27:04

10 p.m. and we opened

27:07

the Facebook waiting for the list.

27:10

So when we find our name,

27:12

we were like screaming, shouting, and

27:14

talking to each other and crying,

27:17

you know, because, alas, we will be

27:19

out of this war, out of this

27:22

this, you know? And then

27:24

they waited. I didn't sleep

27:27

this day, this night, and also

27:29

my parents, my husband, because

27:32

we were afraid still. And

27:34

this night, the airstrike and the

27:37

bombing, it was very, very, very

27:39

high. So what if we

27:41

were killed this night, you know? We

27:43

are afraid that we will die. They

27:47

got up at 6 a.m. to leave for

27:49

the Rafah crossing. And

27:51

she says hundreds of people were already there,

27:54

some sleeping, some waiting to hear

27:56

their names, all of them

27:58

outside what she called the Palisades. Palestinian

28:00

Hall. Many

28:02

people have been getting on these lists

28:04

by paying thousands of dollars to middlemen

28:06

and border guards. One

28:09

person shouted the names of people who could

28:11

enter into the Palestinian Hall to cross over.

28:15

Lumna and her family waited, listening

28:17

for their names. And

28:19

then, she

28:21

heard them. They

28:24

checked her documents. And then they

28:27

crossed into the

28:29

Egyptian Hall. They even

28:31

had a cafeteria in the Egyptian Hall, which was

28:33

hard for her to

28:52

wrap her head around. How

28:54

could there be so much food here when

28:57

on the other side of that door? There's

28:59

nothing. Starvation. From the

29:02

border, Lumna and her family drove to

29:18

their cousin's home. By

29:28

the time they crossed, Lumna's due date

29:30

had already passed. But she wasn't ready to

29:47

have her C-section. She was

29:49

exhausted, physically and mentally.

29:52

She found a doctor in Cairo. I

30:00

need time, just give me thin days."

30:03

The doctor agreed, but only a couple

30:05

days. He told her

30:07

that the skin on her stomach was already too

30:09

thin. You know, um,

30:13

Gabriel, I want to talk about

30:15

the surgery. Yeah, tell me.

30:18

Yeah? When I go

30:20

to hospital to make the surgery. Unlike

30:23

in her nightmares about her delivery, Lumna

30:26

did have anesthesia. It

30:28

was only local, so she was awake for

30:30

her C-section. So, uh, during

30:33

the surgery, Halas, I start crying and

30:35

crying. And the doctors and the nurses,

30:38

they are saying, is there something,

30:40

is there pain? Do you

30:42

have pain? I said, no, no,

30:44

Halas, my feelings are not OK,

30:46

honey. I am emotional, really.

30:49

All the emotions, all

30:52

the feelings, it was,

30:54

you know, this is

30:56

not the place I should be. And when

30:59

I have my baby, this is not

31:01

the place I should be.

31:03

And I should be in Gaza in this moment. And

31:09

it should be, you know, a nice

31:12

moment. Yeah,

31:15

we should, this moment, it should

31:18

be there. Well, our feelings

31:20

is not OK. We have something

31:22

broken in our hearts. Lumna,

31:28

how do you think you're going to

31:30

tell him about what it

31:32

was like to carry him? Like,

31:35

how are you going to tell him about this when

31:37

he can understand? I

31:41

think I will tell him everything. I'll tell

31:43

him the story. How

31:47

brave he was in my

31:49

heart and in my belly

31:52

and how the difficulties we

31:55

went through. And.

32:02

How

32:04

I feel when I put him

32:07

in my hand or that Yanny,

32:09

it's a miracle. He comes

32:12

after Yanny. Yanny went out

32:14

of this field. We went,

32:16

me and him, out

32:19

of this, out of war. Where

32:25

will you go now? I

32:29

don't know. I'm

32:32

staying now in Egypt. To

32:36

be honest, I'm telling you that

32:38

I don't have plans. I

32:40

don't have plans. You

32:44

have to think. And it's

32:46

not easy, Yanny, to think

32:48

about this. I

32:50

feel that I

32:53

have this

32:55

bond between us and between

32:58

our country and our home. We will go

33:00

back. But

33:08

no, I know you have to get back to

33:10

your baby. Yeah, you are most happy to be

33:12

here. Yeah, I think I have to

33:14

go back to him. I

33:17

just want to say thank you for talking to

33:19

us throughout this whole... You are welcome.

33:23

We'll be in touch. Gabriel

33:25

and Salman. Our

33:33

story was reported and produced by

33:35

Gabriel Burbe and Salman Ahad Khan.

33:39

For now, Lubna, her newborn son,

33:41

two daughters and husband are refugees

33:44

in Egypt. They applied

33:46

for residency in Australia but were denied. They

33:49

also applied in Canada and have not heard

33:51

back yet. As

33:53

of the end of March, Canada still

33:55

had not evacuated anyone from Gaza. Is

34:03

estimated. nearly two hundred women are giving

34:05

birth in Gaza every day. In a

34:07

moment we hear from an O B

34:09

G Y N who's helped many women

34:11

deliver in the middle of this war.

34:14

Is pretty simple Kiss Now it's

34:16

like very serious kiss. That's

34:18

coming up on reveal. From

34:32

The Center for Investigative Reporting in P

34:35

R X this is reveal a male.

34:37

Let's it. Lewd.

34:39

not all riots was lucky

34:41

she was able to evacuate

34:44

Gaza in give birth to

34:46

her son's in Egypt. But

34:48

sixty sales and pregnant women

34:50

are still in Gaza right

34:52

now and beyond staying say

34:54

some. the fighting the facing

34:56

a new danger same as

34:58

widespread food shortages are being

35:00

reported throughout Gaza. I'm. Very

35:03

worried. Not only is about the

35:05

people who are currently experiencing the

35:07

situation in Gaza, that's because of

35:10

the research I've done The I'm

35:12

so worried about the long term

35:14

consequences this will have for the

35:17

generation that isn't even born yet.

35:20

Nectar to so Rose Bowl Is

35:22

a professor of early Development in

35:24

Sex at the University of Amsterdam

35:26

and research shows and war and

35:28

famine can cause changes in how

35:31

babies develop that will affect their

35:33

souls for the rest of their

35:35

lives. Reporter Salmaan a Cause spoke

35:37

to her about what impact is

35:39

real siege on Gaza will have

35:41

on Palestinian babies born there. Starvation

35:46

has been used as a weapon of

35:49

war for centuries. Some recent examples include

35:51

the war in Yemen, the Bs and

35:53

War Nigeria, and the Holocaust. But.

35:55

Doctor Rose Boom has been looking at another

35:58

example from were working. Hold

36:00

the Dutch hunger Winter. This.

36:03

Was a period of family. In. That occurred

36:05

during the second. World War in the

36:07

western part of the Netherlands that's have

36:10

not been liberated yet. German occupying

36:12

forces started blockading all food supplies

36:14

heading to the Dutch territories and.

36:16

That acute period of famine lasted

36:18

for about five or six months

36:20

until the Netherlands was liberated. And

36:23

food was much more freely available.

36:25

Again, it's estimated twenty five thousand

36:27

people died during the Dutch on

36:29

Your mentor and doctor. Rose Boom

36:31

has a personal linked to the

36:33

salmon. She's from the Netherlands and

36:35

both her grandmother's were pregnant back

36:37

then. I. Am interviewed

36:39

my grandfather and she told

36:41

me her story of how she

36:43

delivered so my father at

36:45

home when there was no lights

36:48

and there were bombings going

36:50

on and that was obviously a

36:52

really really stressful time to

36:54

bring new life into. The world's.

36:58

Wouldn't be think of the health impacts of

37:00

dramatic events like war and famine. We.

37:02

Usually focus on the people living through

37:04

those crises. But.a ruse. Booms

37:06

has been focusing on a different question.

37:09

What? Happens to be be still in their

37:11

mothers Bally's during those events. In.

37:14

Almost three decades of studying

37:16

men and women who were

37:18

being shaped inside their mother's

37:20

womb during the Dutch family.

37:23

We know that's the lack

37:25

of nutrients to actually build

37:27

your body nests. lusting marks

37:29

on the organs and tissues.

37:31

that were forming at the time.

37:33

These brains were smaller. Than

37:36

these people were adults. their

37:38

brains were wired in

37:40

a different way. She.

37:43

Says their metabolism for getting ready

37:45

for world with less food. But.

37:47

When the salmon eventually ended. And.

37:49

as babies grew into adults in a world

37:52

where food was available again. Their.

37:54

Bodies couldn't cope. They. Became

37:56

more susceptible to all kinds of diseases.

37:59

I'm really. worried about

38:01

the developmental potential of the unborn

38:04

babies in Gaza at the moment

38:06

because the stress levels they

38:09

are experiencing is wiring

38:11

their brains, is

38:13

wiring the way their

38:15

bodies respond to food. It's

38:17

going to affect their ability to learn. It's

38:20

going to affect both their physical

38:22

health, so their risk of diabetes, their

38:25

risk of cardiovascular disease, even certain

38:27

types of cancer. And

38:29

it's also going to affect their

38:31

mental health, making people more susceptible

38:34

for stress, addiction, depression

38:37

in particular, but also

38:39

schizophrenia. And researchers are

38:42

discovering that when those children become adults and

38:44

have their own kids, those

38:46

physiological traits can even get passed on

38:48

to the next generation. Dr.

38:51

Roseboom says it's not possible to ever

38:53

fully make up for these impacts, but

38:55

it is possible to reduce some of the negative

38:57

effects. If those same

39:00

kids get social support, get access

39:02

to healthy diets, regular exercise, that

39:04

could go a long way. But you

39:06

need resources for that. Gaza doesn't

39:09

have any. The medical

39:11

system itself has collapsed. We

39:14

wanted to know, how has doctors

39:16

in Gaza been managing this collapse, especially

39:18

those who've been caring for pregnant women there? So

39:22

we tracked down an OBGYN. His

39:24

name is Dr. Hassan Jawad. He'd

39:32

recently evacuated to Egypt when we first

39:35

spoke. Dr.

39:39

Jawad lives in a small apartment in

39:41

Cairo with his wife, two sons, and

39:44

his wife's family.

39:46

It is so good to see you again. Me too. How

39:48

are you doing? It's first

39:50

time. Before the war, Dr. Jawad ran

39:53

a private clinic, and he was an

39:55

on-call doctor at Al-Shifa, Gaza's largest hospital.

39:58

You might have heard of it. It's the

40:00

one that's been attacked multiple times by the Israeli

40:02

military. In

40:05

the first days of the war, Dr.

40:07

Jawad pivoted to treating critical cases at

40:10

the hospital. When the war started, we

40:13

cannot just imagine what kind

40:15

of war we are going to. The

40:17

amount of killing and the amount

40:19

of dead cases, it was so

40:22

uncountable. Within the first six

40:24

days of the war, Israel dropped 6,000

40:27

bombs on Gaza, killed more than 1,400

40:29

people. After

40:31

four days, Dr. Jawad says

40:33

the hospital could barely function. From

40:35

7th of October till 10th

40:38

or 11th of October, all

40:40

of our storage of

40:43

medicine and IV fluid and

40:45

equipment like cannulas, ranges, medications,

40:47

gauze, sponges, we've already

40:49

used most of them within the first one week. So

40:52

all of us as a medical team were in shock.

40:56

How are we going to complete this war

40:58

if it's continued over one month, Maslan? The

41:01

doctors decided they had to come up with a

41:04

system to conserve supplies. So

41:06

with every incoming case, they asked themselves

41:08

a difficult question. Is

41:10

this a hopeful case or a hopeless one?

41:13

So dealing with Hopfil-1 and lit the hopeless

41:15

case to die in peace. Don't

41:18

touch with them because he will cost us

41:20

a lot of surgical interventions, a lot of

41:22

equipment. And the doctors would

41:24

have to explain their decision to the family

41:26

members. We explain to the family, your case

41:28

is a hopeless case, that another

41:30

case can be survived if we're dealing with her.

41:34

But Dr. Jawad, the OBGYN at

41:36

the hospital, since choosing between

41:38

hopeless and hopeful, is

41:40

especially complicated when you're dealing with

41:42

pregnant women. Obstetrics

41:46

and gynecology departments were shutting down

41:49

all over Gaza. So

41:51

Dr. Jawad delivered his patients wherever he

41:53

could. One day, he got

41:55

a call about a woman who was headed to

41:57

the hospital in a donkey cart. was

42:00

in labor and wasn't going to get there

42:02

in time to deliver. So he

42:04

went to her and delivered the baby

42:06

on the street. But this

42:08

is the routine Salman. We already delivered

42:10

the cases sometimes in the streets, sometimes

42:13

in the schools, sometimes in the roof

42:15

of buildings and the ground in the

42:17

hospital. He says he had to do

42:19

invasive procedures without anesthesia, perform

42:21

c-sections on women who were dying.

42:24

But some of the most tragic cases for

42:26

Dr. Jawad were ones that would

42:28

have been easy to treat under

42:30

normal circumstances. If

42:32

it is simple as a kiss, now it's like

42:34

a very serious kiss. He

42:39

tells us about one of these simple cases.

42:42

The patient is 20 years old, 4 months

42:44

pregnant. She has a urinary

42:47

tract infection. It's the most common infection

42:49

during pregnancy. So the

42:51

doctors give her antibiotics. They

42:54

tell her to come back in 5 days. She

42:57

says she doesn't know she'll be able to. She

42:59

doesn't have a place to live right now and

43:02

there's bombing everywhere. Two

43:05

days later, she comes back. The

43:08

pain is getting worse. Before

43:11

the war, if a pregnant patient came

43:13

back with worsening symptoms, they would have

43:15

immediately admitted her, run all kinds

43:17

of tests. But it's the war now.

43:20

She's not bleeding, so she doesn't get a bed.

43:25

The next day, she comes

43:27

back again. This time though,

43:29

she's losing consciousness. Her

43:32

family is holding her up. Now,

43:35

she finally gets a bed. The

43:38

infection is critical. She's in septic

43:40

shock. And the doctors realize

43:43

they'll need to terminate the pregnancy to save

43:45

her life. They tell her

43:47

family she's young. She can get pregnant again. The

43:50

family agrees. But after

43:52

the procedure, her condition gets worse.

44:01

She's not breathing properly, and he's not

44:03

a lung specialist. She needs

44:05

to go to the ICU. So

44:07

Dr. Jawad calls his colleague there. I

44:10

told him I have a case, 20 years old,

44:12

the air condition is not well, the temperature is

44:14

elevated, there is hypotension, there is something wrong in

44:17

breathing sounds. The case would be died

44:19

if we don't deal with it. Nevertheless,

44:23

unfortunately, he told me I cannot do

44:25

anything for you. We cannot accept this

44:27

case, and you cannot transfer to us.

44:31

There is no space for her. He

44:35

knows how to help her. She needs an

44:37

operation, but he can't do the

44:39

operation because he doesn't have the equipment. He's

44:43

been up for 24 hours. It's

44:45

midnight. The hospital is overcrowded. He

44:48

can hear bombs outside. It's

44:50

getting really hard to think. The

44:53

patient is hallucinating now. It

44:56

feels like something is leaving her body. She's

44:58

crying to her mother. Please call Dr.

45:00

Rassan just alone to deal with me.

45:03

Please tell him to be beside me. I

45:05

feel I'm going to die. I

45:09

explain to the mother, your daughter's condition

45:11

is very, very, very critical. My

45:15

capability is so limited. She's

45:20

shocked. She cannot find any

45:22

answers. She

45:24

told me what we are going to

45:26

do to save her life. She's

45:29

just 20. What can we do for

45:31

her? We cannot do anything.

45:33

We as humans, we do all of this. We

45:36

can do to help her. After

45:39

one hour, she's died. I

45:43

told him to read some Quran.

45:47

I see the soul. Her life

45:49

is ended in front of my eyes. Before

45:53

the war, would

45:55

she have lived? Yeah. Definitely.

46:04

Seeing this case go from hopeful

46:06

to hopeless broke something

46:08

in Dr. Jawad. It's what

46:10

made him decide he couldn't live in Gaza

46:13

anymore. I start

46:15

to believe we

46:17

are not working as

46:19

doctors. We

46:22

are handless, useless. I'd

46:25

spoken with Dr. Jawad in mid-March and it had

46:27

been a few months since he'd last treated a

46:29

patient. He told me

46:31

he misses being a doctor, like he was before the

46:33

war. I miss my job,

46:36

I miss my cases, I miss my career.

46:39

He wants to be that doctor again, but that's

46:41

not possible right now. He's not

46:43

allowed to work in Egypt. He says

46:45

they won't recognize his medical license. He

46:48

still hopes he can return to Gaza and practice

46:50

again. Then,

46:54

a few weeks later, as we

46:56

were wrapping up the story. We're breaking

46:58

news out of Gaza where Israeli forces

47:00

are surrounding these strips largest medical complex.

47:02

There have been reports of deaths and

47:04

injuries inside Al-Shifa hospital. News

47:06

reports started coming out that the

47:08

Israeli army had raided Al-Shifa hospital

47:10

where Dr. Jawad worked. Since

47:13

the start of the war, the Israeli military

47:16

has conducted several raids on hospitals. In

47:19

November, the military attacked Al-Shifa, claiming

47:21

that Hamas fighters could access tunnels from

47:24

inside the hospital and that

47:26

there was a command center underneath it. But

47:28

a Washington Post investigation found no evidence

47:30

of those claims. In

47:33

this most recent raid, the Israeli military claimed

47:36

that Hamas fighters were using the hospital as

47:38

a base again. They

47:40

said it was a successful operation

47:42

and that civilians were not harmed. Then,

47:45

the images started coming

47:47

in. The

47:50

hospital's main buildings were completely devastated.

47:53

Many of them scorched and barely standing. A

47:56

surgeon there described the scene as a wasteland.

48:00

300 bodies were recovered from the destruction. I texted

48:04

Dr. Jabbat to ask if his friends and colleagues

48:06

there were okay. Unfortunately,

48:09

my friend Salman, there was… He sent

48:11

me a voice memo. He

48:14

had been in touch with people at Al-Shifa. There's

48:16

a lot of stories I have here

48:18

from my friends there. They called me

48:20

and they described the conditions they left

48:22

during the attack in Al-Shifa hospital,

48:25

how they killed them and called

48:27

blood. Dr.

48:30

Jabbat had just gotten a message about two of

48:32

his colleagues, his friend

48:34

Ahmed and his friend's mother Yousra, both

48:37

of them doctors at Al-Shifa. After

48:39

the Israel army got out from

48:42

Shifa complex hospital, people go there

48:44

and find out they have died.

48:46

He was my colleague and my

48:48

friend. Something made me

48:50

so crying, it's a cheering

48:53

heart even. I'm so sad,

48:55

so depressed. I'm so collapsed. There

48:57

is no hope, no future in Gaza. He

49:00

said he doesn't see how he can go back to Gaza

49:02

now. After this latest

49:04

raid, he said the message from

49:07

the Israeli army was clear. There

49:09

is no hope to come back to live again

49:11

in Gaza. So all our

49:13

memories are destroyed and burned. We

49:16

are so deeply, deeply scarred in

49:18

our hearts. There is no

49:20

hope to live in Gaza anymore until maybe after

49:22

20 or 30 years. But

49:25

the injury of Muslims, this is

49:27

our faith,

49:30

just to thank our God for everything, for

49:32

happiness and sadness. We say

49:35

that Alhamdulillah. Thanks

49:37

for asking, my friend. That

49:45

story was reported and produced by

49:47

Salman Ahad Khan, Neroli Price and

49:50

Gabrielle Burbet. Gabrielle and

49:52

Salman were lead producers of this week's

49:54

show. It was edited by Taqi

49:56

Telenidis with help from James West. Thanks

49:58

to Nadine Shauker. Chema Ziaora,

50:01

Dr. Mohammad Ziaora, Reem Fahat,

50:03

Najee Baminee, and Dr. Tessa

50:05

Moll. Nikki Frick is

50:07

our fact checker. Victoria Baranetski is our

50:09

general counsel. Our production managers are Steven

50:11

Raskon and Zulema Cobb. Original

50:14

music for this week's show is by Salman Ahad

50:16

Khan. Additional music and

50:18

sound design by the dynamic duo

50:20

Jay Breezy, Mr. Jim Briggs, and

50:22

Fernando Mamayo Arruda. Our

50:24

interim executive producers are Brett Myers

50:26

and Taki Telenides. Our theme music

50:28

is by Colorado Lightning. Support for

50:30

Reveal is provided by the Reva

50:32

and David Logan Foundation, the Ford

50:34

Foundation, the John D. and Catherine

50:36

T. MacArthur Foundation, the Jonathan Logan Family

50:39

Foundation, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation,

50:41

the Park Foundation, and the Hellman

50:43

Foundation. Reveal is a co-production

50:45

of the Center for Investigative Reporting and

50:47

PRX. I'm Al Ledson. And

50:49

remember, there is always more to the story.

51:08

From PRX.