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Gaza's pregnant women suffer

With the high number of wounded individuals during the last Israeli offensive against Gaza, doctors were often unable to attend to pregnant women giving birth or experiencing complications before and after deliveries.
Palestinian baby girl Shayma Shiekh al-Eid lies in an incubator after doctors delivered her from the womb of her mother, whom medics said was killed in an Israeli air strike, at a hospital in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip July 27, 2014.  REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa (GAZA - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST HEALTH TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY) - RTR409X4
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GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — In labor and finding the pain unbearable, Asmaa Faraj, a 26-year-old mother, was unable to deliver her first baby in a hospital. Instead, her mother took control of the situation and helped her give birth at home during the recent Israeli war on Gaza.

“The shelling was heavy on the night of July 18. Going to a hospital was a great risk. My family could not flee the house, so we remained there, to keep my baby safe. We tried to call the ambulance to pick us up and take us to a health center, but they were all busy with the wounded,” Asmaa told Al-Monitor. She said she had no other choice but to let her inexperienced mother help her to deliver.

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