Gaza Women Lose Hope of Motherhood After IVF Clinic Destroyed in War

Noura is a 26-year-old woman from Gaza. She and her husband, Mohamed, had tried to have a baby for years. In July 2023, after IVF treatment, Noura became pregnant. She was very happy. They also stored two more embryos at Al-Basma Fertility Centre in Gaza City, hoping to have more children later.

But everything changed when the war started. On 7 October 2023, Israel began a military attack on Gaza after Hamas killed about 1,200 people in Israel and took 251 hostages. Since then, Gaza’s health ministry says over 54,000 people have died.

Like many others, Noura and Mohamed had to flee many times. They didn’t have enough food, medicine, or care. Noura was seven months pregnant when she started bleeding badly. There were no cars, so they took her to the hospital in a garbage truck. One of the twins was born dead. The other died soon after because there were no incubators.

She said, "Everything was gone in a minute."

Later, they learned the fertility clinic had also been hit by bombs. Their stored embryos were gone too.

Thousands of Embryos Lost

Dr. Baha Ghalayini runs Al-Basma Fertility Centre. He said the clinic was shelled in early December 2023. The clinic had two large tanks that held about 4,000 frozen embryos and over 1,000 samples of sperm and eggs. These were kept cold using liquid nitrogen, but it ran low just before the bombing.

Dr. Mohamed Ajjour, another doctor at the clinic, tried to bring more nitrogen. But the bombing was too heavy, and he couldn’t reach the clinic in time.

All the embryos were destroyed.

“These are not just numbers,” Dr. Ghalayini said. “They were people’s dreams. Many women can’t try again because of age or illness. For many, this was their only chance to have a baby.”

Other Women Affected

Islam Lubbad also lost her baby and frozen embryos. She said her body was too tired from moving place to place. She later miscarried.

Sara Khudari had started IVF in 2020. Her embryo was ready to be implanted in October 2023, but the war stopped everything. “I watched everything collapse,” she said.

Dr. Ghalayini said all nine fertility clinics in Gaza are now destroyed or closed.

Accusations and Denials

The UN said in March that Israel had attacked Al-Basma clinic on purpose to stop Palestinians in Gaza from having children. It called this a possible act of genocide.

Israel denied this. It said the claims were false and that it does not target fertility clinics. A spokesperson said the military tries to avoid harm to civilians.

Prime Minister Netanyahu called the UN body that made the report “antisemitic” and “supporting terrorists.”