‘The dream I carried is gone’: Miscarriages rise amid trauma of Gaza’s war

Deir el-Balah, Gaza – For years, Nuha Abu Lebda dreamed of becoming a mother. But Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza has turned that dream into loss, time and time again.As she was forcibly displaced several times across the Gaza Strip since the war began in October 2023, Abu Lebda lost three pregnancies. She says the losses came after months of air strikes, hunger, fear and living without proper medical care.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemslist 1 of 3‘I have nowhere else to go’: Gaza’s shelter crisislist 2 of 3Life without refrigerators: Gaza residents fight heat and food spoilagelist 3 of 3Sixty Palestinians detained by Israel return to Gaza, describe abusesend of list“I miscarried because of the air strikes, the displacement, the difficult conditions, the lack of clean water and malnutrition,” she tells Al Jazeera.After each miscarriage, she hoped she could still become a mother.“When I lost my baby, I was exhausted. I woke up hoping my baby was still inside me. But the dream I carried for 10 years was gone.”Abu Lebda sold her gold and almost everything she owned to pay for injections of heparin, a drug prescribed to some women to prevent blood clotting during pregnancy. She hope...