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<h1 class="gmail-reader-title">Eradicating the roots: How \u2018Israel\u2019 wages war on fertility in Gaza</h1>
<div class="gmail-credits gmail-reader-credits">Ahmad al-Fakhrani</div>
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<div class="gmail-reader-estimated-time">June 8, 2025</div>
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<div class="gmail-moz-reader-content gmail-reader-show-element"><div id="gmail-readability-page-1" class="gmail-page"><p>This is not just a detail in the genocide in Gaza: How is \u201cIsrael\u201d waging a covert war on Palestinian fertility?</p><div><ul id="gmail-content-slick-0"><div aria-hidden="false"><li>
<a href="https://alpha-en-media.almayadeen.net/media/image/2025/6/8/2f6b3a11-024b-40b3-9cd4-ed259f73f245.webp?v=3&width=1000" tabindex="0"><img src="https://alpha-en-media.almayadeen.net/media/image/2025/6/8/2f6b3a11-024b-40b3-9cd4-ed259f73f245.webp?v=3&width=1000&preset=w700" alt="Between October 2023 and June 2024, 14 fertility clinics were bombed, including embryo banks that stored over 20,000 genetic samples, according to a joint report by the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF." class="gmail-moz-reader-block-img" width="467" height="385" style="margin-right: 25px;"></a>
Between October 2023 and June 2024, 14 fertility clinics
were bombed, including embryo banks that stored over 20,000 genetic
samples, according to a joint report by the World Health Organization
(WHO) and UNICEF (Al Mayadeen)
</li></div></ul>
<p>In a remote corner of the Nuseirat refugee camp in Gaza, where life
and death collide relentlessly, a Palestinian woman sits on the rubble
of what was once her home. She holds her infant in her arms and stares
into a horizon thick with dust. Her eyes are not searching for an
approaching funeral or for much-delayed humanitarian aid. Instead, they
peer at a scorched crater kilometers away, where before the Israeli
genocide began lay the Basma Fertility Center.</p>
<p>Here, in December 2023, that woman\u2019s journey with hope came to an end
when an Israeli shell destroyed a distant glass container that held
what was meant to become her second child, a frozen embryo which for
years had waited for a chance at life. That woman not only lost the
possibility of giving birth again; she lost everything the future meant.</p>
<h2>Shattered Wombs: Stories of biological loss</h2>
<ul id="gmail-content-slick-1"><div aria-hidden="false"><li>
<a href="https://alpha-en-media.almayadeen.net/media/image/2025/6/8/7e38988b-dd46-4be0-ade6-9b778526bcd0.jpg?width=1000" tabindex="0"><img src="https://alpha-en-media.almayadeen.net/media/image/2025/6/8/7e38988b-dd46-4be0-ade6-9b778526bcd0.jpg?width=1000&preset=w700" alt="In December 2023, an Israeli strike hit the center, blowing up the embryo lab and exposing five tanks containing liquid nitrogen." class="gmail-moz-reader-block-img"></a>
In December 2023, an Israeli strike hit the center, blowing
up the embryo lab and exposing five tanks containing liquid nitrogen.
</li></div></ul>
<p>In Gaza\u2019s skies, the war has shifted from a battle over land to a war
on the very seeds of life. 17 years ago, Dr. Bahaa al-Din al-Ghalayini
(73), an obstetrician-gynecologist and infertility consultant trained in
Cambridge, founded the Basma Fertility and IVF Center. The center
became a beacon of hope for thousands of Palestinian families struggling
with fertility issues, operating as an advanced medical institution,
forming partnerships with European and Arab centers, and keeping pace
with technological and scientific advancements.</p>
<p>But in December 2023, an Israeli strike hit the center, blowing up
the embryo lab and exposing five tanks containing liquid nitrogen,
stored in a corner of Embryo Unit 29. Dr. al-Ghalayini describes the
moment with a broken heart:</p>
<p>\u201cWhen the ultra-cold liquid evaporated, the temperature inside the
tanks rose, killing more than 4,000 embryos and over 1,000 other samples
of sperm and unfertilized eggs.\u201d These embryos had been preserved at a
stable temperature of -180°C.</p>
<p>Saba Jaafarawi is one of the thousands of women who lost their hope
of motherhood. She had undergone three years of fertility treatment, a
psychologically grueling journey. The process of extracting eggs from
her ovaries was painful, and the hormone injections had severe side
effects.</p>
<p>Despite all the suffering, Saba held on to fragile hope, but the
bombing ended everything. At least half of the couples, according to
al-Ghalayini, will no longer have another chance to conceive, as they
are now unable to produce viable sperm or fertilizable eggs.</p>
<h2>Between poverty and hope: The fragile reality of childbearing in Gaza</h2>
<ul id="gmail-content-slick-2"><div aria-hidden="false"><li>
<a href="https://alpha-en-media.almayadeen.net/media/image/2025/6/8/55a62f2e-791e-4612-a363-efcd25f75d3d.webp?width=1000" tabindex="0"><img src="https://alpha-en-media.almayadeen.net/media/image/2025/6/8/55a62f2e-791e-4612-a363-efcd25f75d3d.webp?width=1000&preset=w700" alt="The report also highlighted unprecedented harm inflicted on pregnant women, breastfeeding mothers, and new mothers in Gaza, with irreparable consequences on reproductive potential." class="gmail-moz-reader-block-img" width="467" height="311" style="margin-right: 25px;"></a>
The report also highlighted unprecedented harm inflicted on
pregnant women, breastfeeding mothers, and new mothers in Gaza, with
irreparable consequences on reproductive potential.
</li></div></ul>
<p>Before the war, Gaza, despite its dire economic conditions, was home
to a society that celebrated large families. According to data, nearly
half of the population in the Strip is under the age of 18, and
fertility rates were high, at 3.38 births per woman (compared to 1.63 in
Britain).</p>
<p>In a previous study by Dr. Raed Salha, a professor of human geography
at the Islamic University of Gaza, the fertility rate dropped from 6.9
children per woman in 1997 to 5 children in 2020, yet remained above
global averages.</p>
<p>Dr. al-Ghalayini explains, \u201cDespite the poverty in the Strip, couples
suffering from infertility resort to IVF, and for this dream, they sell
household appliances like TVs or jewelry to afford the treatment.\u201d
Before the war, fertility treatments were widely available in Gaza, with
at least nine clinics offering IVF procedures. The Basma Center alone
received between 2,000 and 3,000 patients each month.</p>
<p>The targeting of Basma was not an isolated incident. The UN
fact-finding committee reported that \u201cIsrael\u201d \u201cdeliberately attacked and
destroyed\u201d the main fertility center in Gaza.</p>
<p>Between October 2023 and June 2024, 14 fertility clinics were bombed,
including embryo banks that stored over 20,000 genetic samples,
according to a joint report by the World Health Organization (WHO) and
UNICEF.</p>
<p>The UN committee concluded that Israeli forces intentionally attacked
and destroyed the clinic, including all stored reproductive materials
meant for future pregnancies, describing the destruction as an effort
\u201cto prevent births among Palestinians in Gaza, an act of genocide.\u201d</p>
<p>The report also highlighted unprecedented harm inflicted on pregnant
women, breastfeeding mothers, and new mothers in Gaza, with irreparable
consequences on reproductive potential.</p>
<h2>Fertility as a battlefield</h2>
<ul id="gmail-content-slick-3"><div aria-hidden="false"><li>
<a href="https://alpha-en-media.almayadeen.net/media/image/2025/6/8/db5358ee-2528-4ab7-8ea5-6b946982c106.webp?width=1000" tabindex="0"><img src="https://alpha-en-media.almayadeen.net/media/image/2025/6/8/db5358ee-2528-4ab7-8ea5-6b946982c106.webp?width=1000&preset=w700" alt="The population growth rate, estimated at 2.7% in 2023, dropped to below 1% in 2024." class="gmail-moz-reader-block-img" width="467" height="267" style="margin-right: 25px;"></a>
The population growth rate, estimated at 2.7% in 2023, dropped to below 1% in 2024.
</li></div></ul>
<p>On October 7, 2023, around 50 Palestinian women were in the middle of
hormone injection cycles, preparing for egg retrieval at IVF clinics,
until the war interrupted their treatment and robbed them of their
chances at motherhood.</p>
<p>According to the Palestinian Center for Human Rights, more than
50,000 pregnant women currently sheltering in displacement centers lack
adequate food and proper, safe healthcare. About 15% are expected to
face complications during pregnancy and childbirth that require
unavailable medical support.</p>
<p>The Israeli war on Gaza hasn\u2019t been limited to military bombardment.
According to reports by the Palestinian Center for Human Rights,
\u201cIsrael\u201d has banned the import of contraceptives into Gaza since 2022,
under the pretext of \u201cpreventing terrorism financing.\u201d Meanwhile, Human
Rights Watch has documented cases of forced miscarriages among
Palestinian female detainees.</p>
<p>The impact goes beyond horrifying statistics about maternal deaths.
The aggression has significantly altered Gaza\u2019s demographic composition.
The population growth rate, estimated at 2.7% in 2023, dropped to below
1% in 2024, with forecasts of birth and fertility rates approaching
zero due to deteriorating conditions, fears for mothers\u2019 and babies\u2019
health, and an unprecedented decline in new marriages.</p>
<p>Data shows that the total fertility rate for Palestinian women in
Gaza was approximately 3.9 births per woman, but this is expected to
continue dropping if the aggression persists, meaning the Strip\u2019s
population is unlikely to surpass 2.3 million between 2023\u20132025,
compared to earlier estimates projecting it would exceed 2.4 million by
2025.</p>
<h2>Israeli demographic engineering: From rhetoric to practice</h2>
<ul id="gmail-content-slick-4"><div aria-hidden="false"><li>
<a href="https://alpha-en-media.almayadeen.net/media/image/2025/6/8/e9bf9b7b-f6ef-4f88-8c2a-1650e980109a.webp?width=1000" tabindex="0"><img src="https://alpha-en-media.almayadeen.net/media/image/2025/6/8/e9bf9b7b-f6ef-4f88-8c2a-1650e980109a.webp?width=1000&preset=w700" alt="This photo taken by Dr. al-Ghalayini shows some of the damage that befell the Basma Fertility Clinic." class="gmail-moz-reader-block-img"></a>
This photo taken by Dr. al-Ghalayini shows some of the damage that befell the Basma Fertility Clinic.
</li></div></ul>
<p>To understand the context of these attacks more deeply, one must
examine what is known as Israeli demographic engineering, which are
systematic policies designed to maintain a Jewish majority and diminish
Palestinian presence, particularly in al-Quds and other areas.</p>
<p>Studies indicate that the so-called \u201cPalestinian demographic bomb\u201d
has long been an obsession for Israeli policymakers, pushing them to
adopt strict demographic strategies. These include restricting the
reunification of Palestinian families, revoking residency permits,
imposing construction limitations, and demolishing homes, all aimed at
keeping the Palestinian population in al-Quds, for example, under 30%
within the municipal boundaries of the city.</p>
<p>Researchers argue that destroying embryo preservation labs does not
merely mean the loss of one potential child, but the loss of entire
genetic lineages that could span generations, underscoring the deep
demographic implications of such policies.</p>
<p>Maps and reports show that Israeli aggressions follow a documented
pattern in Israeli military targeting plans, focusing on densely
populated areas such as the Shuja\u2019iyya neighborhood, where there are
three fertility clinics per square kilometer.</p>
<p>These attacks directly impact pregnant women through death, injury,
or inhalation of toxic gases. They also inflict severe psychological and
physical harm caused by extreme fear and anxiety, and depriving women
of gender-specific protections. Additionally, they weaken medical
services for pregnant women and make safe access to care extremely
difficult, forcing many to give birth at home or in shelters, conditions
that increase the risks of medical complications and intensify the
suffering and psychological burden on this vulnerable group.</p>
<h2>The economics of destruction: The high cost of loss</h2>
<ul id="gmail-content-slick-5"><div aria-hidden="false"><li>
<a href="https://alpha-en-media.almayadeen.net/media/image/2025/6/8/43b48da7-77a6-4598-82e8-ad9078f352cb.jpg?width=1000" tabindex="0"><img src="https://alpha-en-media.almayadeen.net/media/image/2025/6/8/43b48da7-77a6-4598-82e8-ad9078f352cb.jpg?width=1000&preset=w700" alt="Gaza Ministry reports 108 martyrs in 24 hours amid ongoing aggression" class="gmail-moz-reader-block-img"></a>
</li></div></ul>
<p>Behind the scenes of destruction lies a calculated machine: Israeli
assaults are executed with precise cost-benefit calculations rather than
randomness. For example, a single bomb dropped from an F-35 fighter jet
costs approximately $3.5 million, a sum roughly equivalent to Gaza\u2019s
healthcare budget for 18 months, according to Palestinian economic
estimates.</p>
<p>This massive investment in destroying healthcare infrastructure aims
not only to paralyze the health system but to create long-term financial
incapacity, making the reconstruction of the sector a nearly impossible
task. As a result, pregnancy and childbirth become dangerous endeavors
plagued by poverty and disease due to the lack of basic medical care.</p>
<p>On a broader scale, these attacks have redrawn Gaza\u2019s population map.
The population density has declined notably, with a 6% drop in
population, about 160,000 people, since the war began, due to mass
killings and forced displacement. The population now stands at
approximately 2.1 million, over half of whom are children under 18.</p>
<p>Israeli policies have transformed Gaza from a historically densely
populated region (over 5,500 people per kmē) into an isolated \u201chuman
reserve\u201d devoid of the biological and social conditions necessary for
life, due to the collapse of healthcare and economic infrastructure,
high poverty and unemployment rates, and rising numbers of widows and
orphans, threatening the long-term survival of Palestinian society in
the Strip.</p>
<p>Amid these systematic attempts to eradicate reproductive health in
Gaza, exceptional grassroots initiatives have emerged, highlighting the
resilience of Palestinian women. International organizations have
documented how midwives and healthcare workers continued to provide care
despite extreme risks and resource shortages. They adopted alternative
and primitive solutions to assist births and care for pregnant women,
using household tools and natural disinfectants in the absence of basic
medical supplies.</p>
<p>These community efforts, which could be called the \u201cresistance\u2019s womb
network,\u201d have been especially prominent in refugee camps, where
midwives collaborated with families to find alternatives to IVF after
fertility centers were bombed, resulting in the loss of thousands of
embryos and genetic samples.</p>
<p>In an interview, Dr. al-Ghalayini remarked that despite the
destruction of the clinic, \u201cthe professional and human spirit we built
over decades will not die,\u201d adding, \u201cWe know with all our being what
those 5,000 potential lives meant, to the fathers and mothers, for the
future, and for the past.\u201d</p>
<p>What is emerging in Gaza today could be described as \u201cresistance
through childbirth,\u201d a notion some describe as a \u201cPalestinian weapon
threatening the Israeli project.\u201d Despite war, siege, and destruction,
\u201cthe number of Palestinians has doubled.\u201d At the entrance of the
destroyed Al-Shifa Hospital, a handwritten message scrawled on a
half-collapsed wall reads: \u201cEvery womb that gives birth here is a second
birth certificate for Palestine.\u201d</p>
<h2>Resilience in the face of demographic engineering: Motherhood as battlefield</h2>
<ul id="gmail-content-slick-6"><div aria-hidden="false"><li>
<a href="https://alpha-en-media.almayadeen.net/media/image/2025/6/8/4d692899-51ad-4b71-95eb-534af98cde62.webp?width=1000" tabindex="0"><img src="https://alpha-en-media.almayadeen.net/media/image/2025/6/8/4d692899-51ad-4b71-95eb-534af98cde62.webp?width=1000&preset=w700" alt="Motherhood is no longer just a personal, intimate experience, it becomes an existential cause for an entire society." class="gmail-moz-reader-block-img"></a>
Motherhood is no longer just a personal, intimate experience, it has become an existential cause for an entire society.
</li></div></ul>
<p>When studying Israeli demographic engineering, one sees that it
extends beyond direct military warfare on Gaza. A study by the
Palestinian Policy Network describes the Israeli entity as subjecting
Palestinians across all of historic Palestine to a complex regime of
demographic control.</p>
<p>Through strategic fragmentation of the Palestinian people and a suite
of segregation laws, \u201cIsrael\u201d continues to revoke Palestinian residency
rights, deny family reunification across the Green Line, strip people
of citizenship, and enforce forced displacement [outside Palestine].
Within this framework, the targeting of fertility centers and embryo
banks in Gaza becomes part of a broader demographic control strategy.</p>
<p>This is not the first aggression on Gaza, but it is the first to
systematically target the future of its next generations. As Dr. Raed
Salha from the Islamic University in Gaza notes, \u201cThere\u2019s a component
tied to the demographic struggle. Today, the Israeli occupation is
trying to increase its numbers while simultaneously settling on
Palestinian land.\u201d</p>
<p>Thus, the female body becomes a battlefield, the womb a trench, and
fertility a weapon. Motherhood is no longer just a personal, intimate
experience, it has become an existential cause for an entire society.
Every child born is a challenge to death, every baby that survives a
triumph of hope over despair.</p>
<p>Beneath the rubble and smoke of destroyed homes, another story
unfolds in Gaza, the story of women who see their bodies as the final
frontlines of resistance, who view childbirth not only as a biological
act but a political one. As written on the wall of the destroyed
Al-Shifa Hospital: \u201cEvery womb that gives birth here is a second birth
certificate for Palestine.\u201d</p>
<p>In a world where fertility becomes a battlefront, embryos are treated
as spoils, and motherhood becomes a battle for existence, there is an
urgent need to shed light on this silent war: the war over wombs,
embryos, and the future itself. When the dust of war finally settles,
one question will remain: Who will be left to tell the story? And who
will be born to hear it?</p></div></div></div>
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