Thousands of pregnant women in Gaza suffer from malnutrition, health authorities say.

When Wafaa al-Kurd was close to giving birth, she said, she weighed less than before she became pregnant and survived on rice and artificial juice.

She gave birth to a 6-pound baby girl named Tayma a little more than two weeks ago, she said. Since then, her husband has spent his days scouring markets in northern Gaza, where the family lives, looking for enough food for his wife to breastfeed and keep Tayma alive.

According to the Gaza Ministry of Health, nearly 60,000 pregnant women in Gaza suffer from malnutrition, dehydration and a lack of proper health care. In a statement on Friday, the ministry said that every month about 5,000 women in Gaza give birth in “harsh, unsafe and unhealthy conditions due to bombing and displacement.”

The ministry added that around 9,000 women, including thousands of mothers and pregnant women, had been killed since the Israeli bombardment and invasion in early October.

The United Nations and aid agencies have warned that famine is looming in the besieged enclave, where health officials said at least 25 people, most of them children, have died in recent days from malnutrition and dehydration.

Dr. Deborah Harrington, a midwife who works at Al Aqsa Hospital in central Gaza, said the expectant and new mothers she treated had not received nearly enough pre- and post-natal care, putting both their lives and the lives of their babies at risk .

Some of the new mothers she spoke to said they were forced to give birth on the streets, in their shelters or in their cars because they couldn’t safely reach a hospital in time, Dr. Harrington said.

“Many of them give birth unsafely, without midwives in a hygienic environment and without life-saving equipment,” she said.

The Global Nutrition Cluster, a group of aid organizations working in Gaza, found it A report last month indicated that more than 90 percent of children under the age of two and pregnant and lactating women in both northern Gaza and the southern city of Rafah faced severe food poverty.

Ms al-Kurd said her biggest pregnancy craving was for tomatoes, which were very scarce in northern Gaza. On her birthday in November, her husband, Saleh, was determined to find her a pair.

Hours later, when he finally got home — clutching a bag of extremely expensive tomatoes that he bought at the only store that sold them — his wife was “happier than when I bought her a gold ring for her birthday last year,” he says . said in a phone conversation Friday.

Like Ms Al-Kurd, Aya Saada, who is seven months pregnant with her second child, said she had been unable to find fruits or vegetables to eat in recent months. She added that she didn’t always have filtered water to drink. “I always get dizzy and nauseous and I’m tired all the time,” said Ms. Saada, 23, who is sheltering in a hospital in northern Gaza.

“You are meant to gain weight during your pregnancy,” Ms. Saada said in a voice message on Friday. “But instead I’m losing weight.” she added.

Vulnerable mothers give birth to vulnerable babies, Dr. Harrington said, and pregnant and breastfeeding mothers are particularly at risk of malnutrition.

“If you are malnourished, you are more likely to develop anemia,” she said. “You’re missing out on all the types of micronutrients you need to safely grow a baby.”

Pregnant women who were injured in the bombing or who contracted infectious diseases – which are spreading rapidly through Gaza – are also at much greater risk of miscarriage and stillbirth, Dr. Harrington added.

“When mothers are sick, their babies can be sick too, and that increases mortality rates,” she said. “Because women don’t get prenatal care, you can’t address problems.”

Ms Saada said her biggest fear – she called it the only thing on her mind – was that her baby would be born with health problems because she lacked nutritious food and clean water during pregnancy. “It’s not possible to prepare for the arrival of my baby,” she said. “We are now just looking for food.”

“The food I eat now is not healthy,” said Kholoud Saada, 34, who is nine months pregnant and sheltering with her four children in a tent at a school in northern Gaza, and who is not related to Aya Saada. . “There is no healthy food in the markets now, no chicken or fish,” she said. “There is no food that is suitable for a pregnant woman,” she added in a voice message on Friday.

Rawan Sheikh Ahmad contributed reporting from Haifa, Israel, and Gaya Gupta From New York.