More than two and a half years after Israel’s war on Gaza began, the devastation is no longer measured only in bodies pulled from rubble, shattered cities or mass displacement. It is now being recorded in neonatal wards and maternity units, where doctors say newborn babies are arriving premature, underweight, critically ill or born with severe congenital abnormalities.
A new medical analysis released by Médecins Sans Frontières, also known as Doctors Without Borders, on 7 May 2026 has added fresh urgency to warnings that Gaza’s maternal and newborn crisis is becoming one of the war’s gravest long-term public health emergencies.
MSF said its teams recorded sharply elevated levels of prematurity and infant mortality among babies born to mothers affected by malnutrition, alongside high rates of miscarriage and interrupted treatment for malnourished infants.
The findings were drawn from four MSF-run or MSF-supported facilities between late 2024 and early 2026, including Al-Nasser Hospital and Al-Helou Hospital.
According to MSF, 90 percent of babies born to malnourished mothers were premature, 84 percent had low birth weight, and neonatal mortality was twice as high among babies whose mothers suffered malnutrition during pregnancy.
“The malnutrition crisis is entirely manufactured,” said Mercè Rocaspana, MSF medical adviser for emergencies. “Before the war, malnutrition in Gaza was almost non-existent.”
Babies Born Into War
Inside the neonatal unit at Nasser Hospital in southern Gaza, doctors say they are witnessing a surge in cases unlike anything seen before the war.
Two-month-old Osama was born with a hole in his heart and enlarged brain ventricles. His mother, Najia Zurub, said she endured pregnancy inside displacement tents without safe drinking water or reliable food.
“I became pregnant with him during the war, and the pregnancy was exhausting due to the lack of food,” she told Al Jazeera. “The severe strain and stress forced me to deliver early.”
Doctors said Osama’s condition was not hereditary and that there was no family history of congenital illness.
Nearby, two-week-old Ahmed lay in an incubator suffering from hydrocephalus, a buildup of fluid in the brain that places dangerous pressure on brain tissue. Another infant, Suheir, was born with deformities affecting her mouth and ears.
Earlier that same day, medical staff in the neonatal ward were caring for five babies with congenital anomalies simultaneously. One infant, Fatama, was rushed to intensive care fighting for her life, while another baby, Iyal, died.
An Unprecedented Surge
According to Gaza health officials cited by Al Jazeera in April 2026, congenital anomalies doubled in 2025 compared with 2022.
Stillbirths reportedly rose by 140 percent during the same period, while neonatal deaths climbed to 457 cases in 2025, a 50 percent increase from before the war.
Zaher al-Wahidi, director of the Health Information Unit at Gaza’s Health Ministry, attributed the rise to five major factors:
- widespread hunger
- collapse of healthcare services
- severe overcrowding
- contaminated drinking water
- and the continuing effects of Israeli attacks
Doctors say the timing of fetal exposure is particularly important.
Asaad al-Nawajha, a paediatrician and neonatology specialist at Nasser Hospital, warned that many internal anomalies affecting vital organs develop during the first trimester of pregnancy, when fetal organs are forming.
During that period, many pregnant women in Gaza were living under bombardment, displacement, hunger and severe psychological stress while lacking access to prenatal vitamins, medical screening or safe sanitation.
With Gaza’s healthcare system now devastated, doctors warn some affected babies simply cannot be treated.
Healthcare System in Collapse
UNICEF warned in February 2026 that no hospital in Gaza remained fully functional.
Only 18 of Gaza’s 36 hospitals were still partially operating, many under emergency conditions with severe shortages of medicine, electricity, clean water and equipment.
The agency said one in five newborns in Gaza now requires intensive neonatal or thermal care.
UNICEF also reported that rates of low-birthweight births doubled during the war. Before October 2023, approximately 5 percent of babies born in Gaza were underweight. By late 2025, the figure had risen to 10 percent.
Deaths within the first 24 hours of life increased by 75 percent.
Humanitarian organizations say pregnant women across Gaza have endured prolonged malnutrition, repeated displacement, dehydration, contaminated water and untreated infections, all while routine antenatal care has largely collapsed.
Doctors also report severe shortages of:
- incubators
- ventilators
- antibiotics
- ultrasound equipment
- anaesthetics
- and neonatal medicines
Some women have reportedly delivered babies inside overcrowded tents and displacement shelters without emergency obstetric care.
The Long-Term Consequences
Medical researchers caution that proving the exact cause of individual congenital abnormalities is scientifically difficult, especially during an active conflict.
However, public health experts say severe maternal malnutrition, chronic stress, environmental contamination and collapsing healthcare systems are all known to increase the risks of miscarriage, premature birth, developmental complications and neonatal mortality.
Doctors in Gaza have also raised concerns about toxic dust, smoke inhalation, explosive residue and contaminated groundwater after years of bombardment and infrastructure destruction.
The latest evidence suggests the war’s consequences are extending far beyond immediate battlefield casualties.
Israel’s military campaign has already devastated Gaza’s homes, hospitals, universities, roads and water systems.
Now, doctors warn, it may also be shaping the health of children before they are even born.
For the newborns inside Gaza’s surviving neonatal wards, surviving the bombing was only the beginning.
Many now face a second battle for survival inside incubators, in a healthcare system struggling to keep them alive.